Chris, Chris, Nicolai... Well, you've flushed out this lurker anyway - although I like Lisa's(?) 'witness' better.
In terms of measurement and quantifiable vs. qualifiable(?), much work has been happening here in Northern Ireland in recent times to find better ways for funders of community development work to show benefits of community development projects in terms of outcomes rather than the traditional 'bums on seats' output measurements. This work has also engaged with relevant research and development into the notion of social capital in England and I think in the US. Perhaps you might be interested in looking at the following website which outlines a set of indicators which can be used to demonstrate the real benefits to communities of building capacity and supporting them to engage in effective ways with other bodies. http://www.ceni.org/inf_screportfull.htm We might not want to measure things but often people and organisations who give financial support to the community and to more participative processes like to have some way of demonstrating clear benefits arising from their support. At least in this country some of them are moving towards evaluation which tells a meaningful story for both them and the community. I hope you will find this of interest. Apologies if this is a little garbled - I'm trying to give up smoking and have simply replaced it with extra caffeine (perhaps not the best approach!) Julie Stuart --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.622 / Virus Database: 400 - Release Date: 13/03/2004 * * ========================================================== [email protected] ------------------------------ To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of [email protected], Visit: http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html
