The Path Towards a Business Case Guidebook and Toolkit for Community-Based Water Monitoring

⮕ Community-based water monitoring (CBWM) is a cost-effective method to collect water monitoring data that also offers intangible value to watershed stakeholders.
⮕ The CBWM Business Case Guidebook and Toolkit will help translate individual CBWM programs’ unique value into economic terms.

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 Gabrielle is Director at Water Rangers and has a diverse background in organizational leadership. She is leading the charge to publicize the Business Case Guidebook and Toolkit to multi-sector watershed partners and is delighted to see how positively the work is being received.

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Praise is Community and Research Coordinator at Water Rangers and has a background in finance, sustainable development, and organizational development. She is excited to help ensure the Business Case Guidebook and Toolkit are user friendly in the field!

These are the messages that water leaders Gabrielle Parent-Doliner (Director) and Praise Osifo (Community and Research Coordinator) from Water Rangers want people to understand about the Business Case Guidebook and Toolkit for CBWM. Their work to complete the initial phase of this project builds on strong, ongoing, multi-year collaboration with numerous CBWM partners. (See, for example, this report resulting from a 2018 national roundtable on CBWM).

In 2020, the Community-Based Water Monitoring Collaborative (the “Collaborative”) contracted the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) to conduct a business case analysis of CBWM programs across Canada. While the 2021 report and IISD’s subsequent Lunch & Learn webinar showcased CBWM’s return on investment and national importance, they also brought to light the challenge CBWM groups face to communicate their programs’ value.

The Collaborative decided to leverage the IISD’s report and create the Business Case Guidebook and Toolkit for individual CBWM groups to calculate and articulate the value they offer. While all members of the Collaborative took part in initial project scoping and planning, Water Rangers recently took the lead, fundraising >$60,000 to contract with EcoPlan International and produce a draft. This fall, experts from the Collaborative will beta test the draft Guidebook and Toolkit, providing expert feedback for a field-ready version.


What is the Business Case Guidebook and Toolkit? 

The tools will comprise a seven-step digital evaluation to translate a CBWM program’s value into economic terms. They will allow groups to tailor outputs to their needs, recognizing there is no one size that fits all. The seven steps will include:

  • scoping the project & clarifying the problem
  • understanding the context
  • identifying program benefits
  • measuring change
  • valuing change
  • calculating value & return on investment
  • communicating results

 

What are the benefits of using the Guidebook and Toolkit? 

For CBWM groups, they are many! They include:

  • identifying a value proposition
  • using funder language
  • improving accountability & transparency
  • responding to calculated return on investment (ROI)
  • improving planning & decision-making
  • supporting & improving monitoring & evaluation
  • supporting capacity building
  • supporting standard setting & benchmarking

The audience for the Guidebook and Toolkit is broad and the value is wide reaching. While CBWM groups are clearly interested, many other partners are too, including Indigenous Guardians programs, all levels of government, academic institutions, international collaborators, and funders. The Guidebook and Toolkit are contributing to positive discourse around CBWM because they really help to articulate value. In Gabrielle’s own words, “doors and eyes are opening to this”. In addition to illustrating the cost effectiveness of CBWM, the resources will help communicate a suite of potential positive impacts. These include: improving public awareness and engagement; boosting mental, physical, spiritual, and cultural health; and enhancing watershed health.

While the first draft is nearing completion, there is still a lot to be done! As funding permits, there will be a period of Indigenous engagement to incorporate content on stewardship, responsibility to land, interconnectivity, cultural practices, and Indigenous law. Also conditional on funding, the Guidebook and Toolkit will be translated into French (see a fall 2023 webinar recording for more info on the Collaborative’s bilingual bridge building), developed into a digital Excel tool, and iteratively improved through long term peer review. If you or your group are interested in funding, fundraising for, or collaborating on the next phase of the project, please contact Water Rangers at contact@waterrangers.ca!

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