Tool 2: Monitoring household wellbeing through surveys based on local indicators

A local wellbeing monitoring system is a programme that regularly checks and analyses the poverty and wellbeing condition of households or communities. The monitoring system is called ‘local’ because it is based on local concepts of poverty and wellbeing and uses locally meaningful indicators.

Why is a local wellbeing monitoring system useful?

Box 15. Unsuitable national indicators

In Indonesia, national poverty standards qualify only houses with dirt floors as poor. However, in East Kalimantan, even the houses of the poorest have wooden floors. Hence, national poverty indicators do not necessarily make sense locally. This is a strong argument for making more use of local wellbeing and poverty concepts.

Poverty and wellbeing are often measured at a national or international level. But local wellbeing monitoring systems have a number of advantages, such as:

  • Local wellbeing indicators are less abstract;
  • Local wellbeing monitoring systems provide more detailed data relevant to the local culture and geography;
  • Local wellbeing monitoring systems can be better linked to local development issues;
  • Local governments develop a stronger sense of ownership for their monitoring system.

However, integrating local wellbeing monitoring systems into a national programme might be a challenge. Decision makers at the national level could perceive local approaches as competing with other nationwide monitoring programmes. However, local and national monitoring systems are complementary as they serve different purposes. For the reasons listed above, a local wellbeing monitoring system best suits the needs and demands of the local government, while a national system allows better comparison of poverty and wellbeing across the different regions of a country.

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© 2007 Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR)
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