Participatory Impact Assessment Research Articles

Valuation of urban nature-based solutions in Latin American and European cities

The potential of urban nature-based solutions (NBS) to provide significant benefits to citizens and to address societal challenges is undervalued, yet the valuation of NBS impacts remains contentious. Further development of monetary and non-monetary valuation of the costs and benefits of urban NBS is required, and effective knowledge exchange on these themes is required at the international level. However, an important gap in research relates to the uptake and application of existing techniques for monetary valuation. This research explored how monetary values of urban NBS are assessed, and how NBS valuation is viewed by city government authorities in particular. Results are presented from a review of peer-reviewed articles reporting urban NBS valuation techniques development and application. Over 200 articles relating specifically to urban NBS interventions were reviewed. The literature indicates that many valuation techniques have been researched, but most studies tend to address just a few indicators of NBS impacts, which are mainly physical-environmental in their focus. To generate deeper insights into perceptions of monetary valuations in NBS impact assessments and their application, focus groups and semi-structured interviews were conducted with local and regional government staff in seven cities in Latin America and Europe. Although a wide range of economic valuation tools exist and can be applied to support NBS development, limited evidence was found for their uptake and application in practice across the contexts examined. We discuss potential reasons for limited uptake, which may include overburdensome data demands, incommensurability with existing decision-making and accounting practices, and limited staffing, financial and technical capacity - even within large cities. Results suggest that successful NBS interventions may portray economic impacts, but NBS propositions should not depend upon monetary valuations alone; social and ecological criteria remain centrally important. Participatory impact assessment methods may support improved business cases and monetary valuations for urban NBS.

The Role of Extension Training in Enhancing Participation of Women Smallholder Goat and Chicken Farmers in The Livestock Vaccine Value Chain, Sembabule District, Uganda

This paper explores the role of extension training in enhancing women smallholder livestock farmers’ participation in and benefiting from the livestock vaccine value chain (LVVC). The emphasis was on the Peste des Petits Ruminants (PPR) vaccine for goats and New Castle Disease vaccine (ND) for chicken. Using the Focus Group discussions, Participatory Impact Assessment, Outcome mapping, Key Informant Interviews, Questionnaire Survey and Kirkpatrick model of change, the study assessed the impact of extension training which equipped extensionists and women farmers with knowledge, skills, attitude and practice in livestock vaccination and empowerment. The study found that extension training made a tremendous impact on the availability of knowledge and information to women farmers as well as in empowering women’s self-autonomy, improved economic status, decision making role in both farm related and family related matters, reduced Gender Based Violence cases and improved productivity in the community.

An integrated socio-cyber-physical system framework to assess responsible digitalisation in agriculture: A first application with Living Labs in Europe

CONTEXTIt is still an open question how to assess the contribution of digitalisation in agriculture to the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals, and how digitalisation then can be done in a responsible way. A socio-cyber-physical system (SCPS) concept can help this analysis, but little experience exists with its operationalisation and application, and its integration with the Responsible Research and Innovation approach. OBJECTIVETo address this gap, this paper has a twofold purpose: a) operationalise the SCPS concept within an integrated assessment framework adaptable to multiple levels of analysis, contexts, and purposes (e.g. ex-ante, ongoing, ex post evaluation) to shed light on impacts of digitalisation in relation to SCPS entities, relationships, and activities; b) apply the designed framework in 21 multi-stakeholder platforms (Living Labs), which were established to explore needs and expectations in specific subjects relevant for European agriculture, forestry and rural areas. METHODSImpacts were assessed through interviews (158 respondents), focus groups (378 participants), online surveys (273 respondents), and other secondary data. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONSThe findings indicate that the SCPS framework enables elucidating relationships between digital and broader sustainable development goals and needs, and can sharpen earlier assessments, going beyond a pessimistic or optimistic dichotomy associated to digitalisation by specifying effects and trade-offs in terms of enabling, disenabling, boosting and depleting impacts of digital agriculture. However, the framework being comprehensive and open to emerging socio-cyber-physical interactions, makes that Livings Labs doing participatory impact assessments struggled with the complexity and multiple dimensions of the topic. SIGNIFICANCEThe paper provides both conceptual and operational knowledge to set up impact evaluations of responsible digitalisation in agriculture and outline concepts that can help anticipating the consequences and trade-offs.

UNESCO biosphere reserves show demand for multifunctional agriculture

Sustainable landscape management of protected areas in UNESCO-biosphere reserves (BR) has become an increasingly important topic for academics and environmental practitioners, yet it remains unclear how this can be operationalized in actual regional circumstances. To achieve positive and measurable sustainability impacts, effective BR management on the ground requires supplementary methods to conceive the unique territorial, political, economic and social characteristics of each case while also considering the needs and visions of different stakeholder groups.In this study, we used the Framework for Participatory Impact Assessment (FoPIA) to assess future projections of current land management strategies and possible alternatives in five BR in Germany. The FoPIA method helped identify major differences in the regional BR contexts, including defining the sustainability problem and sustainability challenges. It also proved suitable for fostering stakeholder dialog with regard to current and future sustainable land use management, particularly for the BR transition zones. Our results predict multiple negative impacts resulting from of a continuation of current practices, which are compared against the assessed outcomes of alternative multifunctional pathways. We use these findings to discuss recommendations and challenges for sustainable management of biosphere reserves, the potential of implementing the FoPIA in BR, and perspectives for further research needs.

Development and Economy in Mongolia through a Human Rights Law Lens

Abstract This article studies the Mongolian economic and development policies implemented in recent years until March 2020, including its revenue matrix sustainability, from an international human rights law perspective. Policy and legal recommendations for discussion are also presented. Based on a United Nations mission the author conducted to Mongolia in 2019, this country study examines the macroeconomic policies, including debt issues, from a human rights perspective; the extent to which mineral rents are translated into inclusive and comprehensive social and environmental policies, focusing on the mining project Oyu Tolgoi; the impact of illicit financial flows on human rights; and the effects of lending for infrastructure and mining projects and other foreign direct investments. The study concludes that economic diversification and conducting effective gender-sensitive, participatory human rights and environmental impact assessments of economic reforms and mining and infrastructure projects are the main challenges Mongolia faces.

Integrated framework for stakeholder participation: Methods and tools for identifying and addressing human–wildlife conflicts

AbstractAs wild areas disappear and agricultural lands expand, understanding how people and wildlife can coexist becomes increasingly important. Human–wildlife conflicts (HWCs) are obstacles to coexistence and negatively affect both wildlife populations and the livelihood of people. To facilitate coexistence, a number of frameworks have been developed to both understand the drivers of conflict and then to find solutions that mitigate conflict. However, each framework has different foci and strengths in particular stages of analysis. Here, we propose an integrated framework that leverages the individual strengths of previously fairly isolated methodologies, allowing for holistic HWC analysis. The framework for participatory impact assessment (FoPIA) provides a toolset for developing wildlife scenarios, selecting assessment indicators and assessing the impact of different scenarios. The social‐ecological framework of ecosystem services and disservices (SEEDS) analyzes the ecosystem services trade‐offs related to scenarios, and the 3i stakeholder analysis approach, supports the identification of stakeholders and provides a mechanism to explore, in detail stakeholders' interests, relative influence, and how outcomes of research are likely to impact different stakeholders. We apply these approaches to eastern Germany, where the increase in several wildlife populations (i.e., wild boar, common crane, gray wolf, and European bison) has contributed to conflict with people. We demonstrate the complementarity of FoPIA, SEEDS, and 3i in identifying stakeholder needs and showing how wildlife dynamics may affect coexistence and create imbalanced ecosystem service and disservice distributions. The integrated framework introduced here provides guidelines for analyzing the multistage process of stakeholder participation and enables a comprehensive approach to the complex challenge of HWCs.

Using a participatory impact assessment framework to evaluate a community‐led mangrove and fisheries conservation approach in West Kalimantan, Indonesia

Abstract Community‐based conservation has been identified as a solution to biodiversity loss, climate change and the reduction of rural poverty. The heterogeneity in social and economic inequalities often acts as a barrier to community engagement in resource management and further inhibits the distributional equity of social and ecological outcomes. This study presents a participatory impact assessment (PIA) framework that evaluated the outcomes of a cross‐sector community‐led conservation initiative. Community members involved in the programme identified activities and outcomes for the conservation cooperative (CC), ranking the influence of the former on the latter as well as their daily life through multiple focus group discussions (FGDs). Participants were asked to rank the impact of activities on outcomes and the scale of the outcome which was totalled to identify the most impactful programme activities and outcomes during the project period. Community members reported improved income, health, education and the creation of a locally led natural resource management system. Members also reported improved crab harvest rates and reduced mangrove deforestation. Environmental outcomes identified by community members through the PIA were verified through a secondary spatial analysis and mud crab independent fisheries monitoring. The results support the hypothesis that environmental non‐governmental organizations (NGOs) need to consider a multi‐dimensional view of human well‐being, and that cross‐sector integrated interventions may be effective at improving multiple outcomes. Future steps should focus on spatial replication of the CC programme which will provide further insights by testing for differences in outcomes between villages, how those are impacted by pre‐existing social and ecological systems and comparing outcomes between control sites that did not receive interventions. A free Plain Language Summary can be found within the Supporting Information of this article.

Participatory selection of soil quality indicators for monitoring the impacts of regenerative agriculture on ecosystem services

Improving the understanding and fostering large-scale adoption of regenerative agriculture (RA) requires soil quality monitoring systems that integrate farmers’ and researchers’ knowledge. This is especially relevant for participatory impact assessment in semiarid areas prone to land degradation that typically respond slowly to management changes, often resulting in low RA adoption rates. We developed a framework for the identification and selection of local and technical soil quality indicators and for the development of a visual soil assessment tool, to participatory monitor the impacts of RA by farmers and researchers. We applied this framework in a large-scale restoration project in southeast Spain together with almond farmers implementing RA. Local indicators selected by farmers focused mostly on water regulation, erosion control, soil fertility, crop performance and main supporting, regulating and provisioning ecosystem services. Technical indicators selected by researchers focused mostly on soil properties including aggregate stability, soil nutrients, microbial biomass and activity, and leaf nutrients, covering crucial supporting services. The combination of indicators provided complementary information, improving the feasibility of RA impact assessment. This integrated soil quality monitoring system offers a practical tool to enhance knowledge exchange and mutual learning to support the implementation of RA and optimize the delivery of ecosystem services.

Four years of sustainability impact assessments accompanying the implementation of improved cooking stoves in Tanzania

Development projects and innovations are often implemented based on scientific recommendations and do not incorporate local knowledge and demand for interventions. In this paper, we demonstrate the successful engagement of local stakeholders in the implementation and evaluation process of improved cooking stoves; a technology that improves food security in two climatically contrasting regions in Tanzania.The Framework for Participatory Impact Assessment tool was used to conduct impact assessments on firewood-based improved cooking stoves to evaluate their contribution to food security at local stakeholder level. Between 2014 and 2017, four annual impact assessments were conducted with local stakeholders in four villages in the semi-arid Dodoma and the sub-humid Morogoro regions to assess the impact of improved cooking stoves on locally defined nine food security criteria. The Framework for Participatory Impact Assessment was used to (i) ex-ante identify the expected impact, and (ii) to ex-post assess the experienced impact of improved cooking stoves on the nine food security criteria. The impact assessments showed that the perceived contribution of improved cooking stoves towards the food security criteria was positive throughout all assessments. In particular, improved cooking stoves addressed relevant food security criteria such as social relations, food availability, and market participation. The Framework for Participatory Impact Assessment tool supported continuous knowledge exchange between scientists and local stakeholders, thus improving communication and co-learning; while identifying merits and demerits of the improved cooking stoves that could be addressed during the project lifetime.

Impact assessment of land use functions on the sustainable regional development of representative Asian countries – A comparative study in Bangladesh, China and Japan

Sustainable land use is a fundamental research field for land use planning. However, regional policymakers often lack access to the theoretical impacts that a land use policy might have on local development, especially in remote agricultural areas. Furthermore, knowledge exchange is important, especially in the context of globalization. This research employed the Framework of Participatory Impact Assessment and household surveys to combine multilevel stakeholders and comprehensively assessed the impacts of different land management scenarios on land use functions (LUFs) and local sustainable development. We completed this comparative study in typical remote agricultural areas in Godagari upazila of Bangladesh, Guyuan of China and Noto of Japan, which all have gradient differences in terms of their economic and social aspects, natural conditions and main land use issues. The selected scenarios were business as usual, increase in agricultural input and reform of rural development mode. The main conclusions are as follows: (1) the farmers at the three study sites all showed a decreasing dependence on their land and a relevant level of stress on environmental LUFs, but the rooted reasons were different and even opposing; (2) scenarios with a high aggregate impact on LUFs might not enable a sustainable development model, and the assessment of land management measures should consider the balance among environmental, economic and social dimensions; and (3) land use and management practices should be conducted with consideration of local conditions, and protecting agricultural development and enacting appropriate agricultural reforms could revitalize local agricultural development. The results revealed the demand for location-specific land management practices and underlined the knowledge of agricultural management on an international scale.

Adapting to Fuelwood Scarcity: The Farmers' Perspective

About 3 billion people worldwide depend on fuelwood to meet their domestic energy needs. Almost 90% of the population in Sub-Saharan Africa use fuelwood-based forms of energy. However, its use is often unsustainable and is one driver of environmental degradation. In Tanzania, the majority of rural residents depend on fuelwood as their major source of cooking energy. The adaptation measures applied by small-scale farmers in response to fuelwood scarcity are typically unsustainable with regard to socio-economic, environmental, and food security dimensions. This study applies a methodological framework that assesses the personally experienced impact of coping strategies by local stakeholders on sustainability criteria. This framework comprises 1) the selection of appropriate adaptation measures; 2) the identification of local sustainability criteria; and 3) the participatory impact and frequency assessments at two case study sites in the semi-arid region of Dodoma in central Tanzania. Overall, eight coping strategies from 23 measures applied in the region were selected and four sustainability criteria defined by local key informants were identified. The participatory impact and frequency assessment show that the strategies of “on-farm tree planting” and “use of improved cooking stoves” are rated as positive across all four sustainability criteria and are regularly applied by the farmers. Two of the eight strategies are clearly negative: “eat fewer meals” and “increase in walking distance to collect fuelwood.” These measures are regularly and widely used by farmers, thus amplifying the negative rating. Overall, the experiences of farmers suggest that applied coping strategies have the greatest negative effect on the environmental condition and, on average, a rather positive effect on economic conditions. The results offer an approach for developing a reliable monitoring of how adaptation measures are applied in response to fuelwood scarcity and to achieve distinct values for benchmarking.

Participatory Impact Assessment of Food Securing Upgrading Strategies in Rural Tanzania

Subsistence farmers in sub-Saharan Africa aim for strategies to enhance their food security. Implementing upgrading strategies (UPS) must be assessed prior to and during implementation. The objective of this paper was to analyze and compare ex-ante and mid-term assessments of two food-securing UPS (rainwater harvesting and micro fertilization, improved cooking stoves) conducted with local stakeholders from four rural villages in Tanzania. We utilized locally developed food security criteria developed under the Framework of Participatory Impact Assessment (FoPIA). Focus group discussions were used to anticipate (ex-ante) and reflect (mid-term evaluation) the likely effects of selected UPS. Overall, the stakeholders’ assessment scores declined from the ex-ante to the mid-term assessment; in particular, the economic criteria decreased, followed by the social criteria. Four critical factors were identified: 1) rainfall-related problems; 2) workload; 3) managerial performance; and 4) social conflicts. Assessment differences were found within the villages, between regions and across villages. Combining both the assessment scores and the farmers’ explanations during assessments provides the key to optimizing the food-securing potential of UPS.

Impact of Rural Land Transfer on Land Use Functions in Western China’s Guyuan Based on a Multi-Level Stakeholder Assessment Framework

To achieve sustainable rural development, it is necessary to simultaneously protect ecologically important land and efficiently use existing agricultural land. Land use functions (LUFs) are widely used to assess regional sustainable development. Guyuan is located in a typical hilly and gully region of western China, with ecologically fragile land. Rural land transfer (RLT) has been advocated to prevent abandonment of agricultural land and promote rational, effective utilization of the land. In this study, we used LUFs in a multi-level stakeholder assessment framework to integrate the opinions of all stakeholders in an evaluation of the impact of RLT on regional sustainable development. We employed the framework for participatory impact assessment, key informant interviews, and questionnaires to obtain data to support the development of scenarios to compare the impacts on LUFs. We found that RLT had positive impacts on each LUF in Guyuan, especially for the land-based production and food security LUFs. Importantly, the measures required to support RLT must vary among landforms and location conditions to successfully develop the LUFs and ensure sustainable development. We found that the integrated multi-level stakeholder assessment framework can comprehensively assess the impacts of land use measures on sustainable development and support regional land-use decision-making.

Ecosystem Management in Large-scale Irrigation Landscapes in Northern Ghana

The concept of ecosystem and ecosystem management services has given rise to different definitions and classifications. Ecosystem may be defined as a natural unit of living things and their physical environment. Ecosystem concept shows the relationship of biodiversity and ecosystems and the benefits are the services enjoyed by humans. In the past, ecosystem resources were used by multiple groups and individuals across sub-Sahara for variety of purposes, sustaining agrarian livelihood through the use of customary laws and traditional social structures. After the Ghana’s 1992 amended constitution, lands in large-scale irrigation in the northern Ghana were returned to the traditional custodians. The study seeks to establish the current role of traditional custodians’ management of ecosystem in irrigation landscapes. The study was conducted in the Tono and Bontanga irrigation landscapes in Northern Ghana using participatory impact assessment methods. Despite the return of lands in irrigated landscapes, formal links and relationships are broken and little is done to amend the situation. Also, there is no clear understanding of the natural resources ownership and management and therefore transition from traditional subsistence agriculture into modern one, supported by irrigation and other technically advanced methods, with a full participation of the small-holder farmers are still lacking.

Combining participatory, qualitative and quantitative methods for impact assessment of food value chains into an integrated framework

An impact assessment of food-securing upgrading strategies (UPS) can be performed to assess actual and potential UPS effects at the local level. We developed an assessment framework that integrates the main components of the food value chain (FVC), including natural resources, food production, processing, marketing, and consumption. The framework provides a generic template in which different impact assessment approaches can be complementarily integrated and was tested for a case study in Tanzania. The framework employs a structured sequence of steps: (1) context analysis and the development of UPS, (2) the selection and application of assessment approaches and (3) the establishment of food security criteria and UPS effects. To illustrate the flexibility and use of the framework, the inputs of three different impact assessment approaches were considered. First, data from a household survey was applied to provide baseline information at the local level. Second, scientific knowledge was employed to systematically assess the selected UPS. Third, local stakeholder knowledge was considered to identify the local food security constraints and preferences and provide assessments of potential UPS effects. The Framework for Participatory Impact Assessment (FoPIA) approach was utilized to conduct local focus group discussions, and the Scaling Up Assessment Tool for Food Security (ScalA-FS) was employed to gather scientific knowledge about specific UPS impacts. Based on the preliminary results from the framework testing, diverse stakeholder participation was found to be essential for considering local preferences and to engage stakeholders in the assessment process, whereas scientific knowledge and monitoring data were needed to complement the “local picture” with more quantifiable results. The strengths and shortcomings of the framework are discussed.

Systemising gender integration with rural stakeholders' sustainability impact assessments: A case study with three low-input upgrading strategies

Participatory action research across food value chains (FVC) can help stabilise the food security of subsistence farmers by implementing upgrading strategies (UPS). These strategies can be assessed ex-ante and ex-post for their potential social, ecological and economic sustainability impacts.UPS implementation, however, often entails gender-specific changes and challenges in a farmer's social life, economy and environment that either were not perceived and anticipated beforehand or are not followed up during UPS implementation. Before and during their implementation, therefore, UPS need to be entirely understood and assessed by both genders in terms of their potential social, ecological and economic sustainability impacts.This article conceptualises a systematic framework for integrating gender in sustainability impact assessments and presents gender-based assessment differences in three low-input UPS in Tanzanian FVC. We conducted ex-ante and ex-post impact assessments using nine food security criteria developed earlier by the authors following the Framework of Participatory Impact Assessment (FoPIA). Sustainability impact assessments—to a greater extent than expected—differed to various extents between the genders for a) different food security criteria, b) different sustainability dimensions (economic, social, and environmental), c) different points in time (T0, T1) of assessments, d) different implemented UPS, and e) different members within the groups of female and/or male stakeholders.The results demonstrate the substantial importance of integrating female-male segregated assessments and perceptions before and while implementing food-securing UPS. We anticipate that integrating these assessments and perceptions as regular components will lead to better gendered social learning for both scientists and stakeholders and a holistic understanding of complex local food systems.

Participatory Sustainability Assessment for Sugarcane Expansion in Goiás, Brazil

The sugarcane expansion in Brazil from 1990 to 2015 increased crop area by 135.1%, which represents more than 10 million hectares. Brazilian ethanol production hit a record high in 2015, reaching 30 billion liters, up 6% compared to 2014. In 2009, the Sugarcane Agroecology—ZAE-CANA—was launched to be a guideline to sustainable sugarcane production in Brazil. However, although it aims at sustainable production, it only considered natural aspects of the country, such as soil and climate. It is still necessary to develop instruments for studies on sustainability in all pillars. The aim of this study is to present the results regarding the application of the FoPIA (Framework for Participatory Impact Assessment) methodology in the Southwestern Goiás Planning Region (SGPR). FoPIA is a participatory methodology designed to assess the impacts of land use policies in regional sustainability, and the results showed the capacity of FoPIA to assess the impacts of land use change of the sugarcane expansion in that area. The major advantage of FoPIA is its participatory method feature, as it is possible to join stakeholders to debate and define sustainability guidelines.

Sustainability impact assessment of peatland-use scenarios: Confronting land use supply with demand

Sustainable development of land use is determined by changes of the regional supply of Land Use Functions (LUFs) and the demand of future societal land use claims. LUFs are based on the ecosystem services concept, but more adapted to human land use. In this paper, we assessed two peatland-use scenarios towards sustainable development in Northeast Germany in order to understand their impacts on LUFs and land use claims. For this, we extended an analytical framework designed to confront LUFs with land use claims identified in multi-level stakeholder strategies in a participatory manner. The sustainability assessment was performed with peatland-use scenarios “Services for services” and “Market determines usage” that favoured environmental and economic land use claims, respectively. Findings revealed possible trade-offs between land use claims for biomass production and regional value creation as well as for peatlands` carbon and nutrient sink, and habitat functions. The core achievement is an extended sustainability assessment framework integrating land use demands of multi-level stakeholder strategies into participatory impact assessment, in a way that land use claims serve as benchmarks for LUFs. This facilitates the understanding of sustainable land use in both supply and demand perspective, and the normative evaluation of ecosystem services.

Capturing systemic interrelationships by an impact analysis to help reduce production diseases in dairy farms

Production diseases, such as metabolic and reproductive disorders, mastitis, and lameness, emerge from complex interactions between numerous factors (or variables) but can be controlled by the right management decisions. Since animal husbandry systems in practice are very diverse, it is difficult to identify the most influential components in the individual farm context. However, it is necessary to do this to control disease, since farmers are severely limited in their access to resources, and need to invest in management measures most likely to have an effect. In this study, systemic impact analyses were conducted on 192 organic dairy farms in France, Germany, Spain, and Sweden in the context of reducing the prevalence of production diseases. The impact analyses were designed to evaluate the interrelationships between farm variables and determine the systemic roles of these variables. In particular, the aim was to identify the most influential variables on each farm. The impact analysis consisted of a stepwise process: (i) in a participatory process 13 relevant system variables affecting the emergence of production diseases on organic dairy farms were defined; (ii) the interrelationships between these variables were evaluated by means of an impact matrix on the farm-level, involving the perspectives of the farmer, an advisor and the farm veterinarian; and (iii) the results were then used to identify general system behaviour and to classify variables by their level of influence on other system variables and their susceptibility to influence. Variables were either active (high influence, low susceptibility), reactive (low influence, high susceptibility), critical (both high), or buffering (both low). An overall active tendency was found for feeding regime, housing conditions, herd health monitoring, and knowledge and skills, while milk performance and financial resources tended to be reactive. Production diseases and labour capacity had a tendency for being critical while reproduction management, dry cow management, calf and heifer management, hygiene and treatment tended to have a buffering capacity. While generalised tendencies for variables emerged, the specific role of variables could vary widely between farms. The strength of this participatory impact assessment approach is its ability, through filling in the matrix and discussion of the output between farmer, advisor and veterinarian, to explicitly identify deviations from general expectations, thereby supporting a farm-specific selection of health management strategies and measures.

PARTICIPATORY IMPACT ASSESSMENT OF PUBLIC POLICIES ON RURAL DEVELOPMENT IN COLOMBIA AND MEXICO

The participation of stakeholders in the design and application of rural development policies is one of the major concerns of policy makers. The Framework for Participatory Impact Assessment (FoPIA) is a methodology to measure the impact of policies, which could include different stakeholders. This paper used FoPIA to assess the impact of rural development policies in Mexico and Colombia. The results showed a positive impact in the case of Mexico, whereas in Colombia, just one of the policies showed positive results. In both cases, social themes were remarked in order to take them into account at the moment of designing rural development policies.