Monitoring system for repayments and environmental compliance (established and operational)

As with any conservation and development project, it is essential to monitor the activity and the impact. From the outset, monitoring in the MKUBA pilot has been constantly improved, with strong support with Mwambao-MCCC, GreenFi and the pilot community itself. The main components can be divided into the main three following fields: 

  • Financial monitoring:To ensure that borrowers stay on track regarding their loan repayment schedule, and avoid any delay/knock-on to the rest of the eco-credit group, to ensure the eco-credit groups operate smoothly as planned/trained for, to detect and address any issues that may arise in the loans life-cycle in the eco-credit groups 

  • Social/economic monitoring: To understand the social dynamic around the scheme, to understand what the loans are used for (it can be for productive purposes or livelihoods conditions ones, such as emergency needs, school fees, etc.), to ensure that the loans don’t lead into any over indebtedness 

  • Environmental monitoring: To track the impact on compliance to local rules, and evaluate how it acts as an incentive boosting local management, to ensure that borrowers are not putting more pressure on other natural resources to repay their loans.

  • Some existing literacy in the groups to keep records

  • A pre-existing Monitoring & Evaluation system in the supporting organisations piloting the scheme, with flexible data management and related capacity to adapt, to be able to reflect and react timely.

  • An expert/dedicated support organisation (such as GreenFi) to help via: providing tools to make monitoring smoother and simpler, this can involve applications or other technological solutions. 

 

  • Data recorders need a thorough understanding of the data to be collected and of the importance of correct recordings. For instance, people’s exact names and ages, as well as the time spent fishing are important so that fishing effort can be calculated. 

  • Each of the first groups were issued with a tablet to record some data. This has not proved to be particularly functional - smartphones worked better in his case. The first version of the mobile app was difficult to implement properly. 

  • There have been some business failures notably for instance on chicken breeding, and a milkfish small aquaculture project that eventually looked non-operational. Those did not seem based on proven technical feasibility or any existing skills by their initiators.