1. Forest Stewardship Council ® FSC, A.C. All rights reserved 1 Evaluating the impact of voluntary certification - From evaluators’ and stakeholders’ perspective. The role of ISEAL & the example of FSC. Kristin Komives, M&E Manager ISEAL Marion Karmann, M&E Manager FSC 1 st EEEN Forum, 9.-10. Feb. 2012, Leuven, Belgium ISEAL Alliance Monitoring & Evaluation Programs

2. Forest Stewardship Council ® FSC, A.C. All rights reserved 2 1 st EEEN Forum, 9.-10. Feb. 2012, Leuven, Belgium What is the ISEAL Alliance? Global hub for sustainability standards....defining credibility and supporting systems to scale up impact

3. Forest Stewardship Council ® FSC, A.C. All rights reserved 3 1 st EEEN Forum, 9.-10. Feb. 2012, Leuven, Belgium ISEAL Alliance Monitoring & Evaluation Programs › Why? ›WHY ›> Increasing demand from companies, governments, and NGOs to show impacts ›> Learning and improvement, substantiated claims, transparency, and multi- stakeholder involvement… as elements of credibility › What? ›WHAT ›> Theory of change ›> Indicators and on-going monitoring ›> Impact and outcome evaluations ›> Stakeholder input into M&E system ›>Internal dissemination and learning ›> Public reporting of results ›> No unsubstantiated claims ISEAL’s Impacts Code: evaluation policy for our membership

4. Forest Stewardship Council ® FSC, A.C. All rights reserved 4 ISEAL Alliance Monitoring & Evaluation Programs ISEAL’s collective work on impacts › > Poverty reduction impacts of certification ›> Common indicators ›> Research agenda ›> Working towards joint impact evaluation › > In development… impacts on biodiversity and ecosystem integrity

5. Forest Stewardship Council ® FSC, A.C. All rights reserved 5 ISEAL Alliance Monitoring & Evaluation Programs 150 mio hectares, run by 1.100 forest companies, in 87 countries: different sizes, types of ownership, management objectives, technologies, knowledge, laws, rights,.. Membership based, balanced, participatory decision / consent making: 900 orgs. & indivuals, three chambers (econ., ecol., soc.) North & South each. Consultative processes in forest certification.

6. Forest Stewardship Council ® FSC, A.C. All rights reserved 6 ISEAL Alliance Monitoring & Evaluation Programs FSC was established to promote: environmentally appropriate, socially beneficial, and economically viable …management of the world's forests. Forestry: intervening in ecosystems, affecting stakeholders, raising expectations. FSC: Reduction of negative impacts. Reality check!

7. Forest Stewardship Council ® FSC, A.C. All rights reserved 7 ISEAL Alliance Monitoring & Evaluation Programs Reality checks - practitioners: Foresters: Monitoring, Soc. & Env. Impact assessments, adaptation of management plans, Auditors: evidence for adherence to FSC Standards, annually, spot audits, raising CARs, public reporting, Stakeholder consultations, conflict res. mechanism, ASI: auditing auditors’ performance, FSC: consult for standard revision processes. Reality checks – researchers: Individual research: case studies, …. Joint projects: e.g. WWF, ESA/NASA, CIFOR, CIRAD, GEF, Birdlife/SLU, Forest People Program, ISEAL,..

8. Forest Stewardship Council ® FSC, A.C. All rights reserved 8 Thank you! Kristin Komives, kristin@isealalliance.org Marion Karmann, m.karmann@fsc.org N.b.: Evaluators are always welcome! 1 st EEEN Forum, 9.-10. Feb. 2012, Leuven, Belgium ISEAL Alliance Monitoring & Evaluation Programs