Protecting Nature by Making Conservation Management Plans

There is an expression that �failing to plan is planning to fail.� While it is not always true that those who fail to plan will eventually fail in their endeavours, there is stronge vidence to suggest that having a plan leads to greater effectiveness and efficiency. Not having a plan�whether for an office, programme or project�is in some ways similarto attempting to build a house without a blueprint, that is, it is very difficult to know what the house will look like, how much it will cost, how long it will take to build, what resources will be required, and whether the finished product will satisfy the owner�sneeds. In short, planning helps us define what an organisation, programme or projectaims to achieve and how it will go about it. 

Monitoring can be defined as the ongoing process by which stakeholders obtain regular feedback on the progress being made towards achieving their goals ando bjectives. Contrary to many definitions that treat monitoring as merely reviewing progress made in implementing actions or activities, the definition used in this WebQuest focuses on reviewing progress against achieving goals. In other words,monitoring is not only concerned with asking �Are we taking the actions we said we would take?� but also �Are we making progress on achieving the results that we said we wanted to achieve?� 

The difference between these two approaches is extremely important. In the more limited approach, monitoring may focus on tracking projects and the use of the agency�s resources. In the broader approach, monitoring also involves tracking strategies and actions being taken by partners and non-partners, and figuring out what new strategies and actions need to be taken to ensure progress towards the most important results.

Surveillance is different from monitoring because it is not integral to a management plan.  Monitoring is an intermittent (regular or irregular) series of observations in time, carried out to show the extent of compliance with a formulated standard or degree of deviation from an expected norm  In line with this definition, we need to define the state desired in terms of objectives or targets, and then undertake monitoring to assess whether these objectives are being met.

Evaluation involves systematic, evidence-basedinquiry that can describe and assess any aspectof a policy, program or project. Evaluation uses awide variety of both quantitative and qualitative methods, providing more comprehensive information about what is taking place, why, and whether itis appropriate or not, and to provide guidance forfuture directions.Evaluation can be carried out for many different purposes and take a variety of forms. Some ofthe following types of evaluation (the list is not inclusive � there are also many other evaluation approaches) may contribute to impact evaluation under certain circumstances.