Evaluation as transformation: empowering civil society organizations in remote and vulnerable mining communities through the process of monitoring, evaluation, and learning.

Abstract Information: Remote and vulnerable mining communities are difficult to reach for programmatic and evaluative purposes. The Pilares Project, implemented by Pact with funding from USDOL, has worked to improve the capacity of more than 70 civil society organizations to better understand and address child labor and promote acceptable working conditions in the artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) sector in Colombia. This is a notoriously challenging task, as the ASGM sector is an important source of income for vulnerable populations and their children, and often operates outside of formal regulations. Pact leveraged the concept of “evaluation as intervention” by using the act of evaluation to empower mining communities to lead on program implementation and to lead processes of social transformation in their own territories. The “Monitoring and Learning to Empower CSOs” model builds the evaluative capacity of civil society organizations in remote contexts, who in turn lead and assess programmatic activities, which enabled them to launch advocacy efforts at local and regional levels to reduce child labor. Presenters will share how the organizations that advanced in their evaluative practice were able to assume larger leadership roles that influenced greater decision-making, such as by serving as community evaluators of subsequent microprojects in their territory to support ASGM families and their children. Presenters will also share lessons learned, challenges, and even mistakes that were made along the way, in addition to the complete model to spur further adaptation.