How to Measure Trust with Partners and Communities with Gretchen Leuthart

“If You Can’t Measure It You Can’t Improve It.” - Peter Drucker, Management Expert

The success of the work we do everyday with implementing partners and communities is directly related to the amount of trust we have in these relationships.  And yet I bet few of you reading this have developed a way to incorporate trust with communities and/or partners into your monitoring and evaluation frameworks.  There are many reasons for this-- trust is difficult to measure and its definition can vary depending on the cultural and historical context.  But with strong trust, we can receive honest and timely feedback which can lead to more sustainable and appropriate interventions.  

The good news is my guest today Gretchen Leuthart has developed ten indicators through research with Caritas New Zealand which can be used in other contexts as well to measure the levels of trust with local partners and communities.  In this interview Gretchen and I discuss three indicators in particular which you can adapt to your own context and begin making strengthened relationships and trust more of a priority.

Resources:

Making Relationships Count: Exploring how Caritas New Zealand Can Use Monitoring and Evaluation to Build Trusting Relationships with Partners