What kind of mechanisms can evaluate the impacts of communication, education and public awareness programmes?
Communication, education and public awareness programmes should have clear goals and objectives. In evaluating the impacts of these programmes, protected area managers can assess both programme outputs (e.g., how many meetings were held, how many people attended), and programme outcomes – whether or not the specific goals and objectives of the programme were achieved. They can do so using traditional social science methods, such as surveys, questionnaires, interviews, opinion polls and focus group discussions.