1. United Nations Volunteers Measuring the contribution of volunteerism to community-based adaptation to climate change Ana Cristina Guimaraes Matos Evaluation Specialist, UNV Evaluation Unit, Bonn June 2009

2. What do we want to measure? To what extent are community volunteers playing a role in supporting adaptation to climate change To what extent this voluntary engagement of community members has an impact on their adaptation practices and their level of success

3. Why do we want to measure? Volunteerism is a sustainable and renewable resource that helps communities find their own solutions to their problems By engaging voluntarily in their own development processes, communities can overcome dependence and have a more active role in shaping a better future for themselves Other less tangible results of volunteering are inspiration, role-modeling to others, better focus by community members on the common good Therefore, understanding how volunteerism contributes to CBA is an important opportunity to tap into this huge potential for collective and collaborative work and to demonstrate that UNDP/UNV collaboration works.

4. Windows of opportunity to assess the contribution of volunteerism to CBA During preparation of the concept note During proposal preparation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation, including VRA Within the project cycle During the preparation of the CBA country programme strategy During implementation, monitoring and evaluation of CBA at national level Within the country programme cycle

5. Methodological options to assess the contribution of volunteerism to CBA Within the project cycle: Assessing current practices and potential for volunteerism during preparation of the concept note. How? By asking beneficiaries for their views on the issue – including questions on volunteerism in the project templates Integrating volunteerism into the project proposal, monitoring and evaluation How? By adding and regularly measuring one quantitative indicator to all project proposals: number of community members engaging in CBA on a voluntary basis How? By integrating qualitative information about volunteerism to the VRA: to what extent are community volunteers contributing to CBA?

6. Example: a question on volunteerism for the VRA APF Plus Step: Assessing the contribution of volunteering to adaptation a. Indicator: added value of volunteer work to community adaptation b. Sample key questions: Without the support of volunteers, would the community be able to cope with the challenges of (e.g. drought)? What are the most important contributions of volunteers to community adaptation to (e.g. drought)? Why are the volunteers important? Do different people (men, women, youth, elderly) benefit in different ways from the contribution of volunteers? How? c. Proposed scale: Added value of volunteer work to community adaptation: 1 – very high to 5 – very low

7. Methodological options to assess the contribution of volunteerism to CBA Within the country programme cycle: Integrating volunteerism into the national CBA programme planning, monitoring and evaluation How? By adding and regularly measuring one quantitative indicator to the CBA country programme strategy: number of community members engaging in CBA on a voluntary basis (aggregation) Carrying out qualitative analysis of the contribution of volunteerism How? By undertaking qualitative analysis on the national indicator, such as national learning workshops or studies, addressing issues such as: levels of voluntary engagement of community members in the different projects, factors contributing to and hindering volunteerism, differences in results between projects with different numbers of community volunteers

8. Methodological options to assess the contribution of volunteerism to CBA At global level: Carrying out qualitative analysis of the contribution of volunteerism How? By undertaking annual qualitative studies comparing the results of the learning workshops in the different countries, focusing on trends and common factors of voluntary contribution to CBA.

9. Thank you!