Impact Data - Municipal Environmental Management and Public Participation

Evaluation scale:
17 characteristics, used to define 'wise practices', were used here to assess this field project. On a qualitative scale, all earned a rating of either "partially" (the field project activities to date have gone some significant way toward fulfilling this characteristic) or "fully". The only exception was the rating of "none" for "Have the project activities been evaluated? (this evaluation is the first). A summary of the 16 other characteristics follows:

1. Have the project activities ensured long-term benefit? - fully. Example: A number of local administrators, environmentalists, school teachers, journalists have become students at the IESAM. This has improved their environmental and professional knowledge.
2. Do the project activities provide for capacity building? - partially. Example: The project has built bridges and improved capacity for environmental management, but has mainly worked with local activists rather than involving a number of other stakeholders such as coastal fishermen.
3. Do the project activities provide for institutional strengthening? partially. Example: The field project contributed to the establishment of the IESAM UNESCO Chair, which has provided opportunities for people from all levels to have access to environmental education. However, the structures and institutions created still do not involve all interested persons and stakeholder groups.
4. Are the project activities sustainable? - fully. Example: The project has contributed to sustainable private sector activities in the field of ecotourism and cultural tourism, creating ecologically-friendly income sources in a relatively weak economic environment.
5. Have the project activities been transferred? - partially. Example: The socio-economic situation is rather atypical for West European countries, so some of problems and decisions are unique, or applicable only to the East European countries.
6. Are the project activities interdisciplinary and intersectoral? - fully. Example: All major societal sectors in the area have been involved in the project implementation, including local governments, NGOs, private sector, media, youth, and civil society. It would be desirable in the future to include the military sector.
7. Do the project activities incorporate participatory processes? - fully. Example: Meetings and research are participatory, but local fishermen are rather passive in social and economic activities.
8. Do the project activities provide for consensus building? - partially. Example: The project activities have helped to develop consensus within certain groups of stakeholders.
9. Do the project activities include an effective and efficient communication process? - fully. Example: Effective communication has been a key component of the project activities.
10. Are the project activities culturally respectful? - partially. Example: Project activities have included cultural traditions of the Livs native to the area and other issues of concern to the Livs.
11. Do the project activities take into account gender and/or sensitivity issues? - partially. Example: The sensitive relationship between 'coastlanders' and 'highlanders' has been taken into account.
12. Do the project activities strengthen local identities? - partially. Example: Many of the stakeholders expressed appreciation for the project and took personal pride in being associated with various activities.
13. Do the project activities shape national legal policy? - partially. Example: Project activities are contributing to administrative reform in northwest Latvia.
14. Do the project activities encompass the regional dimension? - partially. Example: The project is at too early a stage to have developed the regional dimension. The recently created UNESCO-CSI university twinning network, which includes universities from Spain, Portugal, Italy, Latvia, and Russia, will strengthen the regional component.
15. Do the project activities provide for human rights? - fully. Example: Activities are contributing to a 'feeling of democracy' and include support for a free, well-developed market.
16. Have the project activities been documented? - partially. Example: The documentation is represented mostly by students' reports and theses, exclusively in the Latvian language.