Process Documentation: A Research Method for Institutional Change

Process documentation is a form of project monitoring that seeks to capture qualitative information generated in the process of project implementation. Instead of simply measuring outcomes and predetermining which factors will be relevant to those outcomes, process documentation involves careful monitoring of the actual activities of foresters and community groups and detailed records of their interactions, problems, and needs. Process documentation can identify constraints to program goals that arise from qualitative factors such as local political disputes, poor communication between officials and local people, and lack of participation of marginalized groups. Knowledge of these constraints is then fed back into forest department planning procedures to inform ongoing management decisions. Process documentation is an important part of establishing an institutional learning process and of enabling organizations to build flexibility and responsiveness into their structures and procedures.

Process documentation was developed by the Institute of Philippine Culture to document pilot, small-scale irrigation projects in which the Philippine government was developing a new participatory approach. De la Salle University researchers then adapted the methods to document the pilot upland programs in the Philippines, in which the government was learning to work with villagers to develop upland community organizations, provide long-term land lease contracts, and provide assistance in agroforestry and other upland technologies. Monthly process documentation reports were provided to the members of the upland development working group, giving them an unusually detailed understanding of the issues and problems in the pilot projects and a means to base their decisions about necessary policy or programmatic changes on actual field experience. A problem, however, was that working-group members often did not have time to read the lengthy reports, relying instead on the researcher to explain at the meetings the key information the working group needed for decision making.

Process documentation was also used in India. In Haryana, Maduh Sarin and the TERI Joint Forest Management support team evolved a means to ensure maximum use of the process documentation reports. A concise format evolved for recording the major issues emerging from village-level meetings of the hill resource-management societies. The format consists of a cover page recording those present, the issues discussed, and major decisions. Several descriptive pages follow that highlight interactions and discussion in greater detail and include process-related observations (on the extent of involvement of women and other groups or the dominance of certain individuals, for instance).