We have updated the way we report on socioeconomic indicators starting from July 2024 TerraFund progress report. In the article below, you can find more information on how to complete your reports. After reviewing this article, if you have any questions about this process, please reach out to our team via WhatsApp or at info@terramatch.org.
TerraFund partners are not just restoring land and ecosystems. They are also advancing socioeconomic objectives and supporting local economies by providing employment and bolstering livelihoods. This article provides information on how to report on the number of jobs, volunteers and livelihood beneficiaries that your project has created. Please take note and review the definition of a “job” carefully and make sure that you are separating out the number of jobs from the number of volunteers and the number of project beneficiaries. For each of the narrative questions, write responses that are at least 1,000 characters and up to 10,000 characters.
Reporting socioeconomic progress
TerraFund monitors progress towards the following socio-economic indicators in its reporting:
- Number of people employed on a full-time and part-time basis
- Number of volunteers engaged
- Number of local community members receiving direct and indirect benefits
- Number of people who received training
- Number of projects supporting income-generating activities
How to distinguish between people employed, volunteers, and direct and indirect benefits?
TerraFund aims to understand how a range of stakeholders are affected by or influenced by TerraFund investments and how to best distinguish between these groups. The below figure illustrates the different levels of engagement of many project stakeholders.
The concentric circles represent different layers of beneficiaries of TerraFund investments. The innermost circle represents TerraFund champions who have received funds for restoration purposes as well as the people employed by the organization to achieve restoration goals, and people volunteering directing for the organization. This layer represents People Employed and Volunteers.
The second layer includes individuals directly benefiting from TerraFund funds, such as local community members receiving tree seedlings or fruit trees, or a local business the project is supporting. These individuals are counted as direct beneficiaries. Please provided details to explain all of the benefits your project provided, and explain the basis for the figures you provide.
The third layer includes people and communities who you believe benefitted from the project. This could include community members that benefit indirectly from restoration efforts, for example through improved soil or water quality, or members of the households or communities of the individuals included in the above tally of local community members who directly received benefits. Champions are free to provide numbers in their own calculations but are expected to share how they calculated the provided numbers.
TerraFund prioritizes accuracy and the ability to verify the information within its database rather than simply focusing on the number of people engaged. TerraFund therefore prioritizes quality over quantity – we would rather have projects report accurate numbers than inflated estimates.
Definition of a job
A “job” is defined as set of tasks and duties performed by one person aged 18 or over in exchange for financial compensation i for at least one hour during a given week. Common jobs for restoration projects include trainers, nursery managers, seed collectors, tree planters, monitoring and maintenance staff, and administrative staff, along with other roles.
For each 6-month report, champions are to provide the number of people who have been newly employed as part of the project. The people employed data is then broken down each job according to its job type – full-time or part-time– and the demographic categories (women/Men, Youth/Non youth) that fit each employee. Part-time employees include temporary, seasonal, casual, and day laborers.
- Full-time jobs: Number of individuals working full-time jobs (35 or more hours) on the project per week, disaggregated by gender and age group
- Part-time jobs: Number of individuals working part-time jobs (less than 35 hours) per week on the project. This includes temporary, casual, and seasonal employees, disaggregated by gender identity and age group.
Did your project create new jobs in the last 6 months?
Choose between “Yes / No”. If you choose "No", there is nothing further to report and you will skip to the next section (Volunteers). If you choose "Yes", then you would answer the other questions on this page.
Describe the new jobs that have been created.
Include information about the types of jobs, the role they play in the overall project, and who has been employed. Please be detailed.
In the past six months, how many new employees have started working full-time on this project?**[enter a number]** new full-time jobs.
Definition of full-time employees: Full-time employees are people that are regularly paid for their work on the project and are working more than 35 hours or more per week throughout the year.
Break down the total number of new full-time employees that you reported above into the demographic categories below.
In the past six months, how many new employees have started working part-time on this project??* [Number]
Part-time employees encompass all paid employees that do not work full-time: They include people that are regularly paid for their work on the project and are working less than 35 hours per week throughout the year. They also include temporary and seasonal workers that are directly paid by this project but only work during a portion of the year.
- New part-time jobs for women: **[number]**
- New part-time jobs for men: **[number]**
- New part-time jobs for people older than 35 years of age: **[number]**
- New part-time jobs for people for people under and including 35 years of age: **[number]**
Include information about the types of jobs, the role they play in the overall project, and who has been employed. Please be detailed.
Below is some additional guidance on reporting the number of people employed:
- Please only include new employees as of the reporting period (past 6 months). Do not count employees that you had reported in a previous project report. Do not count volunteers or project beneficiaries in this field. Below are the questions found in Jobs.
- The unit of reporting for jobs is the number of individuals employed or provided with paid job opportunities.
- Count a job when a person receives direct remuneration, including wages or financial compensation, from the organization.
- Only include individuals directly employed by your organization.
- Individuals paid by other organizations even if facilitated/funded by your organizations such as contractors, brokers, or subgrantees are not to be counted as part of jobs but counted as beneficiaries under the income-generating activities.
- Include people working temporarily for the project or only during seasons such as planting, hole digging or weeding count as part-time jobs.
- Consultants are included as part-time employees.
- Include people whose time is only partially funded through TerraFund. In other words, if someone is employed full-time by an organization but only part of their time is spent on the project funded through TerraFund, they are still counted as a full-time employee.
- Record all people employed on fulltime basis at the beginning of the project and only add those who join the team in the subsequent reports as “new” jobs
- TerraFundchampions should only record individuals newly employed in the six months preceding the reporting period.
- If multiple categories could apply to one person, we count them toward Jobs first, then Volunteers, and then Beneficiaries.
- For example, if a person has been engaged both in paid work and other activities (trainings or receiving seedlings), this person will only be counted towards jobs and not counted in the beneficiaries’ numbers.
- If a person volunteered for the project and also received some benefits in recognition of their support, such as food or seedlings, they are counted as a volunteer.
What is in Volunteers?
In this section, you will report on the number of volunteers that your project has engaged. Review the definition of a “volunteer” carefully and make sure that you are separating out the number of volunteers from the number of jobs and the number of project beneficiaries. For each of the narrative questions, write responses that are at least 1,000 characters and up to 10,000 characters.
A volunteer is an individual that freely dedicates their time to the project because they see value in doing so, but does not receive payment for their work. For example, they may volunteer their time because of a personal interest in environmental causes, or because they believe restoration efforts will benefit their community, or as part of their educational pursuits. Volunteers must work directly on the project. Paid workers or beneficiaries who do not dedicate their time to the project are not considered volunteers.
Each volunteer should be counted only once during the project’s lifecycle. Do not count anyone in this tally that is included in the “jobs” or “beneficiaries” categories.
Did your organization have new volunteers work on your project in the last 6 months?
Choose between “Yes / No”. If you choose "No", there is nothing further to report and you will skip to the next section (Project Beneficiaries). If you choose "Yes", then you would answer the other questions on this page.
In the last 6 months, how many new volunteers have worked on the project?*
Enter in the total number.
Describe the work that volunteers have done.
Please include information about the volunteer roles included in the tally above and the how they contribute to the project. You must explain why this labor is not paid.
Break down the total number of new volunteers that you reported above into the demographic categories below.
One person can be included in multiple categories. For example, one volunteer can be marked as a woman and under 35 years of age in this breakdown, but that person should only be included once in the total tally above.
- New women volunteers **[number]**
- New men volunteers **[number]**
- New volunteers over 35 years of age **[number]**
- New volunteers under and including 35 years of age **[number]**
Note that the totals for men + women must be equal to the totals for people over 35 years of age + people under and including 35 years of age, which in turn must be equal to the total number of new volunteers who worked on this project in the past 6 months.
What is in Livelihood Benefits?
In this section, you will report on the number of people that your project has directly or indirectly benefited. Review the definition of a “beneficiary” carefully and make sure that you are separating the number of beneficiaries from the number of jobs and the number of volunteers as described in the concentric circles above. For each of the narrative questions, write responses that are at least 1,000 characters and up to 10,000 characters.
Unlike employees and volunteers, beneficiaries do not do any work on the project but still receive benefits. Local community members receiving benefits may include:
- A person employed through a partner or subcontracted organization
- A service provider that is not an employee of the organization, like a broker, contractor, supplier of goods and services
- People offering services to the organization such as catering services, and transport services are not considered a job but rather a beneficiary.
The main difference between beneficiaries and volunteers is that beneficiaries do not work directly for the project, whereas volunteers do work directly for the project. For example, if someone plants trees for your project and receives a benefit such as transportation reimbursement (but no pay), this is a volunteer. If someone receives seedlings to plant on their own farm to benefit their own livelihood, this is a beneficiary.
We recognize that sometimes the line between an employee and a volunteer and a volunteer and a beneficiary may not always be clear. Please provide explanations in your report about the work that employees and volunteers are doing, and about the benefits that beneficiaries are receiving, and be sure to avoid counting the same individual in more than one category. If you have questions, contact your project manager.
Apart from new paid employees and volunteers, did any new people benefit from this project in the past 6 months?"
Choose between “Yes / No”. If you choose "No", there is nothing further to report and you will skip to the next section. If you choose "Yes", then you would answer the other questions on this page.
Apart from new paid employees and volunteers, how many local community members directly received benefits from this project in the past six months? *
Please include the number of individuals who received direct benefits from the project. This total should include only the people who directly received the benefits, for example the number of smallholder farmers who received tree seedlings to plant on their land or support for beekeeping or other livelihoods activities. In this total, please only include the direct recipients, not others in their households or community who may also benefit. These individuals can be included in your response to the following question on indirect beneficiaries.
Please also avoid double-counting with questions on employees, volunteers, and trainings and do not include employees, volunteers, or participants in trainings in this total. Do not count in this tally any individuals that you already included in the “job” or “volunteer” tallies. Each individual should be counted only once during the project’s lifecycle. If a person falls in all the categories above, priority would be to count the person towards jobs, then towards volunteers and then as a direct beneficiary in that order.
Describe the specific ways that people have benefited from this project. *
Explain the benefits that this project has directly provided to individuals, and the basis for how you calculated the figure provided above. In most cases these are tangible, immediate benefits that support livelihoods and well-being of recipients, such as food and agricultural products, seedlings, or access to savings and loans. People benefiting is considered different from people employed and people with increased skills and knowledge, which are tracked separately from benefits.
Break down the total number of new beneficiaries that you reported above into the demographic categories below.*
One person can be included in multiple categories. For example, one beneficiary can be marked as a woman, under 35 years of age, and a smallholder farmer in this breakdown, but that person should only be included once in the total tally above.
Smallholder farmers are farmers that operate on less than 2 hectares of land, often only for subsistence, are characterized by limited resources, and often rely on family labor. If land is communally owned and split between members of a community or cooperative, individual farmers and their family members that work on less than 2 hectares of that land should be included in this tally.
- Number of new women beneficiaries: **[number]**
- Number of new men beneficiaries: **[number]**
- Number of new beneficiaries older than 35 years of age: **[number]**
- Number of new beneficiaries younger than and including 35 years of age: **[number]**
- Number of new beneficiaries who are smallholder farmers **[number]**
- Number of new beneficiaries who are large-scale farmers **[number]**
How many people received benefits indirectly from this project in the past six months?
This is a place to estimate the total number of people that you believe benefitted from the project. This could include community members that benefit indirectly from restoration efforts, for example, through improved soil or water quality, or members of the households or communities of the individuals included in the above tally of local community members who directly received benefits.
Describe the specific ways that the project indirectly provided benefits.
Explain the benefits that this project has provided indirectly, and how you calculated the estimate total figure provided above.
Has this project supported any income-generating opportunities?
Provide yes/No if the restoration champion has provided any income-generating activities but do not include jobs. This refers to activities that equip individuals to earn income from sources other than restoring land, such as beekeeping, selling fruit or vegetables, or keeping livestock or fisheries.
Please provide more details about the income-generating activities you are supporting.
Explain the specific causes of the increase in income for the people tallied above. Mention the specific value chains that are associated with the increase in income, e.g., providing beehives, cocoa or mangoes. If possible, please include the unit income amount for each value chain item (e.g. 1 beehive produces 17kg of honey and 1kg of honey is worth KES1,000). If the same project beneficiaries have reported several distinct increases in income during the project, describe why that is the case.
In the past six months, how many of the people tallied above have reported have received trainings from the project? *
In this tally, include the total number of people who have received training. If the project did not provide any trainings this reporting period, enter 0. If an individual has already received training from the project and was accounted for in a previous report, please do not count them again.
Describe the new skills or knowledge that beneficiaries have gained and how they acquired those skills or knowledge .*
Explain the specific trainings provided, including the new areas of knowledge or new skills that the project provided training on.
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