Evaluation of the social technologies for water management project through a system of social and environmental indicators

Abstract

Social Technologies promote, through techniques, processes or products, the social transformation of agents involved and the improvement of quality of life. The Social Technologies Project for Water Management - TSGA, coordinated by the Federal University of Santa Catarina, in partnership with other institutions from Santa Catarina and the Petrobras Ambiental Program, has been working for a decade to disseminate good water resources management practices to communities that produce food or who lack rural basic sanitation. In this context, a continuous evaluation is fundamental to ensure compliance with the proposed objectives and targets and to indicate the results and impacts generated. The follow-up during the TSGA Project was carried out through Environmental Investment Monitoring and Assessment, which presented the Logical Matrix Evidence Report containing all actions developed. However, this document did not really assess the effectiveness and effectiveness of the TSGA Project, nor its social coverage and the empowerment of knowledge by the communities involved. There was a need to evaluate in other ways the scope and performance, as well as the legacies left with the exchange of experiences promoted by the TSGA Project actors. Indicators are tools that can help to translate the social and environmental meaning of projects, since they detail, qualitatively or quantitatively, the data endowed with substantive social meaning, used to replace, quantify or operationalize an abstract social concept of collective and diffuse interest. Thus, the objective of this work was to evaluate the TSGA Project through the proposition of a system of socio-environmental indicators that resulted in an overall effectiveness of 71%, considered satisfactory and in agreement with the essential aspects of a social technology experience. This methodology enabled a more concrete understanding of the transformations provided, and considered all the multidimensionality of the TSGA Project, allowing a broad and participatory view. It was verified, therefore, that the Project TSGA fulfilled with its objectives, principles and programs and had the power to transform all the social actors involved.