Capturing Change in Communities

This guide supports local and Indigenous governments in monitoring and evaluating their healthy communities work. It helps users plan how to measure progress, collect data, and understand whether their efforts are making a difference.

Monitoring is the ongoing, systematic collection of data throughout a plan, project, or initiative. It tracks progress toward goals and helps identify what’s working or needs improvement.

Evaluation focuses on learning and reflection—assessing outcomes, effectiveness, and equity. Although often done at the end of a project, evaluation should be planned from the beginning.

The guide emphasizes:

• Using monitoring data to inform evaluation.
• Asking key questions such as “What do we want to know?” and “What are our priorities?”
• Choosing the right methods and tools for different evaluation types.
• Considering equity throughout the process.
• Planning how data will be collected, managed, and stored systematically.

Together, monitoring and evaluation help communities make informed decisions, improve processes, and demonstrate meaningful change.