OUR APPROACH
What is Community-Led Monitoring?
Community-led monitoring (CLM) is an essential social accountability tool used by communities to watchdog the quality and accessibility of health services for HIV, TB, and malaria, as well as newer pandemics such as COVID-19.
The responses to HIV, TB, and malaria are off track. CLM is a vital intervention in efforts to accelerate progress and deliver on the global target of defeating HIV, tuberculosis, and malaria by 2030.
CLM is designed to improve health care access by informing health policy and holding duty bearers accountable for fixing problems uncovered through routine data collection at the level of the health facility and the level of the community, and through advocacy led by communities.
CLAW members have pioneered the development and implementation of CLM programs every step of the way–from training monitors, to building data dashboards, to supporting development of advocacy campaigns, and evaluating program impact. We work in solidarity to support the expansion of quality CLM, at scale, wherever it is needed to achieve health equity and justice.
CLAW’s Approach to CLM
Our model of CLM skill-sharing and strengthening centers the power and agency of directly impacted communities, using South-South and peer-led approaches.
Through a five-step cycle, community monitors collect information at the facility and community level; translate their data into actionable insights; bring information to the attention of facility, government, and donor decision-makers; advocate for changes in policy and practice when facility level decision-makers can’t—or won’t—resolve problems; and finally, monitor whether or not changes that have been promised to communities have actually been delivered. This cycle of accountability building is then repeated.
We build community power with our allies in order to ensure CLM results in the health systems change communities require.
OUR PRINCIPLES
All of our work aligns with the principles of community-led monitoring, which state that CLM must:
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Be independent from its donors and from national governments
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Be built and led by communities – from identifying priority indicators to preparing survey questions –all by people living with HIV, TB, and/or malaria and key populations
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Include advocacy activities with the aim of generating political will, to take action that advances equity and demonstrates accountability
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Adhere to ethical data collection, consent, confidentiality, and data security. Data collection must be verifiable, reliable, conducted in a routine/continuous cycle and collected under “do not harm” principles
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Ensure that data are owned by communities, with programs empowered to share CLM data publicly. CLM programs should not be made to re-gather or duplicate M&E data from existing systems
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Ensure monitors are representatives of service users, and that they are trained and supported and adequately paid for their labor
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Be coordinated by a central, community-owned structure capable of managing the effort
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Click here to read more about the principles that guide our approach to community-led monitoring.