Benefits-Harm Impact Tool – CARE Gender Toolkit

Benefits-Harm Impact Tool

Objective: To understand the overall impact of projects and consider unintended negative impacts as well as previously unforeseen positive opportunities.
Materials/Preparation: Benefits-Harms Handbook Impact Tools. Teams should decided which areas are most important for discussion and reflection.
Participants: It often involves not only field staff, but staff at various positions across the organization.

Related Tools

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Guidelines

As a team, the tools can be used to organize internal discussions about project interventions across the organization, and can be used before a project commences or after it has begun.

Tools include:

Political Impact Tools

Possible Impact	Partly	No	Yes	Explanation/Reasoning
I. Political Power Tools Might the project impact political structures…
...by changing the status of the relationship between certain political groups or authority structures?				Consider the group members identified in the political profile sheet. E.g. Which ones may gain or lose influence or resources because of the project? By working with /channeling resources through one authority, might it create tensions with others? Or might it empower or disempower certain groups in political decision-making? The project may legitimize or undermine particular group members.
II. Political Rights and Processes Might the project impact people's identity or political participation…
...by changing how they are recognized or protected by the law?				Might the project have an impact on people's legal identity (e.g. their citizenship or refugee status) or their political identity (e.g. their ability to participate in political processes)?
...by (not) involving them in political or decision-making processes of any form?				Might the project impact their political involvement (or lack thereof)? E.g. Does the project take any steps to empower people to engage in organized decision-making?
...by changing their freedoms to hold political or ideological opinions or beliefs, or to speak freely, or practice the religion of their choice?				Might the project expand or contract these freedoms? E.g. Might it help or hurt people's ability to form and express opinions, political or otherwise? Might it affect their ability to worship as they choose?
...by changing their ability to gather together, organize around issues, or participate in social or political institutions, organizations or associations?				E.g. Might the project impact any group's ability to organize or mobilize around issues, gather together or form groups?
III. Underlying Causes of Political Rights Denial Might the project impact the root causes of political rights violations…
...by strengthening or weakening underlying attitudes or systems and structures?				How might the project impact the attitudes or systems and structures that lead to political rights violations? E.g. You may want to discuss this intuitively or use the rights, responsibilities and underlying cause analysis profile tool first.

Security Impact Tool

Possible Impact	Partly	No	Yes	Explanation/Reasoning
I. Conflict Between Communities Might the project impact the potential for conflict between the community and others...
...by increasing the tensions or strengthening the relationships between the community and those with whom they are in conflict?				Does the project promote peace or conflict resolution? E.g. Does it increase or lower the incentives for achieving peace? Does it impact positive and negative systems & institutions, attitudes & actions, values & interests, or symbols & occasions that foster peace or promote conflict?
...by changing the community's vulnerability to violence from outside, or capacity to commit violence against outsiders?				Consider whether hostile groups or armed forces might be attracted to the community because of resources. E.g. Might aid cause people to move to an area where they might be attacked or to stay in such an area longer than they would otherwise?
II. Conflict in the Community Might the project significantly change the potential for violence between people in the community...
...by increasing the tensions or strengthening the relationships between groups in the community?				Might it cause existing tensions to get worse or create new tensions between different groups in the community? E.g. Consider who gets the resources. Who are they in conflict with? Who controls the distribution of resources?
...by empowering those who commit violence or by empowering victims to resist? ... by making potential victims of violence into a more or less attractive target?				Does the project channel resources through those groups that often commit violence, such as security forces, militias, etc? E.g. Does it make vulnerable groups such as IDPs, women or children more attractive for violent attack?
III. Underlying Causes of Conflict and Violations of Security Rights Might the project impact the underlying causes of security rights denial in the community...
...by strengthening or weakening the underlying attitudes or systems and structures that cause conflict or security rights violations?				How might the project impact the attitudes or systems and structures that lead to conflict or security rights violations? You may want to discuss this intuitively or use the rights, responsibilities and underlying cause analysis profile tool first. E.g. The project may feed or mitigate the conflict by changing attitudes or impacting the structures and systems that affect the conflict.
IV. Conflict Resolution and Community-based Protection of Security Rights Might the project impact local forms of conflict resolution or community-based rights protection...
...by strengthening or weakening the local structures, and processes that are used to resolve conflict and protect rights?				Might the project strengthen or undermine the community's conflict resolution methods? Might the project strengthen or undermine the community's policing powers?

Economic, Social and Cultural Impact Tool

Possible Impact	Partly	No	Yes	Explanation/Reasoning
I. Impact on Economic Assets/Deficits and Capacities/Vulnerabilities Might the project impact people's human rights to:
...work and adequate income?				It could impact how people spend money or what they spend it on. It could impact local markets or ways of exchanging goods.
...a healthy environment				It could impact the use of natural resources. It could impact pollution levels.
...health and health care?				It could impact the type or quality of basic health care. It could impact levels of access to basic health care.
...food and nutrition				It could impact demand for or supply of food. It could impact nutrition or malnutrition levels or the types and quality of food that people eat.
...education?				It could impact access to or demand for education. It could impact the quality of education.
...shelter?				It could impact the types of available shelter. It could impact the amount of shelter available.
...clean water?				It could impact the water supply, or the quality of the water.
II. Impact on Social Attitudes Might the project impact group social attitudes unintentionally...
...by weakening people's self-reliance, independence, confidence, or capacity?				One might also consider the opposite...might the project increase dependency, fatalism, or apathy?
...by weakening shared values, cooperation or mutual respect and trust between groups?				This is not about conflict between groups, but about the social fabric of relationships that keep a community healthy.
III. Impact on Cultural Practices and Traditional Coping mechanisms Might the project impact cultural practices or traditional coping mechanisms...
...by strengthening or weakening a particular attitude or artifice?				Might the project impact positive or negative cultural practices, or undermine the community's traditional methods of addressing the project related need?
IV. Root Causes of Economic, Social or Cultural Rights Violations Might the project impact the root causes of economic, social or cultural rights violations...
...by strengthening or weakening underlying attitudes or artifices (systems and structures)?				How might the project impact the attitudes, systems or structures that lead to economic, social or cultural rights violations? You may want to discuss this intuitively or use the rights, responsibilities, and underlying cause analysis profile tool first. (E.g. The project may impact certain underlying attitudes, systems or structures that enable or encourage economic rights violations.)

Resources

P O’Brien (2001). Benefits-Harms Handbook, CARE.