Back to basics: Considerations in evaluating the outcomes of community forestry

Evaluations on community forestry outcomes are important to observe whether the program community forestry produces what it has promised. For the evaluation -as an alternative to the comprehensive criteria and indicators on sustainable community forestry-, we propose an approach based on the core policy objectives of the program. In fact, community forestry is very much connected to the following three objectives of: 1) alleviating the poverty of forest users, 2) empowering them, and 3) improving the condition of the forests. Based on field tests in two community forests in Indonesia, the focus on the core policy objectives appears to provide a more practical approach than the use of complex criteria and indicators. We conclude that our approach allows rapid evaluations and eventually reduces the associated costs and time without compromising the goals of the evaluation.

► We review the practical considerations in evaluating the outcomes of community forestry.
► We use the core policy objectives of community forestry as the focus of the evaluation.
► The focus of the policy objectives allows rapid but appropriate evaluation.
► We further define the key elements of each core policy objective.