ABSTRACT
Monitoring has, to date, been seen quite narrowly by those working in natural resource initiatives for sustainability. Development project managers mainly consider monitoring a tool for controlling proper use of money and determining whether work is progressing as planned (Roche 1999; Woodhill 2004). Researchers generally view it as a data collection process, although some are stretching its use to include a more analytical dimension and viewing resource management (and related policy processes) as ongoing experiments (Lee 1993; Bosch et al. 1996; Probst 2002). Evaluation specialists in ex ante environmental and social impact assessment are required to develop monitoring plans (IAIA 2003), but often the quality is poor, emphasis is on compliance monitoring, and monitoring for learning falls outside assessment practice. In all cases, monitoring has been seen as a fairly mechanistic exercise comprising little more than indicator selection and data collection.
