My Communities

Overwhelming experience after I finished the module1 of this exemplar course. I have learned some new topics and information that is new and fresh to my intellect. Philanthropy University is doing a great service for people like us to learn some new concepts and upgrade our skills and intellect. As a person from the technical arena and planning to do some data science and analytic course in the future, I hope it might be helpful for me to lay some foundation work.

data collected from individuals must remain anonymous and confidential. we must apply the DO NO HARM principle throughout our data collection process. ethics must be essential in our projects.

We must have respect for the participants and their data we collect, their identity must be propected.

Definitely it effect this if the data is not kept anonymous

It is a good topic because confidential data or feedback against someone else can do harm and give bad perceptions.

It is a good topic because confidential data or feedback against someone else can do harm and give bad perceptions..

take into account the needs of the population
avoid despising her
aids must not constitute a danger

The three Main principles of ethical behaviours should always be taken note of and they include avoiding harm,honesty and comoetence

releasing the information we have taken from the people their data, promising to protect, comment on the rules, we will guarantee the guardian of the force,
something must be protected,

I agree with the fact it might necessarily be me the M & E officer causing problems with my data, but other users might use the data wrongly or interpret it incorrectly to cause harm to the already affected population.

releasing the information we have taken from the people their data, promising to protect, comment on the rules, we will guarantee the guardian of the force,
something must be protected,

This has been a very enlightening segment.
What is the right thing to do when it is discovered that a data collection exercise which was already approved to take off lacks in 'do no harm' principle?

Understanding of the local culture is key to determine the probability of occurrence of data management ethical issues. This needs prior research and understanding of the community before data is collected.

At this stage information or data gather concerning other groups of people should be confidential, so that delicate information concerning them will not be expose to attract enemies into their lives. And also you must becareful not destroy their image with your information you gather from them.

Do no harm
A principle in data collection that guides participants in collection of data. As an ethical user of the data, a number of guiding codes of conduct are considered ;

• consent for information use must be granted
• Assurance of privacy of information collected to the participants by keeping the information confidential & anonymous
  etc

Yes data collected for the purpose of M&E could be used to course harm to other, which is why data provided for purpose of M&E must handled with care and kept discrete especially where data is confidential.

Data that you release be used by political opponents to further damage this group of people, which is why data provided should be anonymous that it can not be traced back to the source of the data.

En clair comment peut-on définir l éthique ?

At all time we should have a win win situation doing no ham to anybody

Data can stand as the voice of the people.

You are correct sir.

It is important to keep in mind how others might think about the data, and to imagine scenarios whereby the data could be used for harmful purposes. Careful thinking and enquiries from others with useful experiences could help avoid this pitfall. The issue of confidentiality and anonymity must not be taken for granted.

Oui c'est possible, si ces données ne sont anonymes et confidentiel

well, these three ethical principles are extremely useful to put on board for whoever is M&E officer because as I have seen from the first principle explains it all that do no harm, this imply that in all angles as an M&E person do not generate and collection information just to benefit yourself and just because you want to get done with the work, but rather get people to be comfortable and free to give you the information in order to help solving/addressing community problems in well mannered following and obey ethical group .

Obeying ethical principles in M&E is very crucial. The principles are; do no harm, honest and competence. Do no harm principle tells us that we should not cause harm to anyone during M&E. In addition, we should be honest and competence on what we are doing.

OK. What do no harm principle teach us?

I concure with you.

Ethics are the principles that guide morally correct behaviour. As an M&E expert, three principles of ethical behaviour are essential to keep in mind. These are: Do no harm; Honesty; Competence.

As an M&E expert we must honor the dignity, well-being, and self-worth of individuals. We must not, intentionally or unintentionally, cause physical, emotional or reputational damage to the people affected by our work.
Unless we are careful, our M&E processes have the potential to cause enormous harm. The Do No Harm principle instructs us to actively avoid causing damage.

Regarding to the case study above, each department should have tool M&E for data collecting. As we know that there are more ways on how to collect the data but there is not sure that our collecting data can use or not. Moreover, each department should consider the experience of your participants, must ensure that all participants give informed consent to collect and use their data and must ensure that when appropriate, participant data is kept anonymous and confidential; these points are correct. To be honest, there is M&E department and EMIS department which are under my directorate general of policy and planning of Ministry of Education, Youth and sport, Cambodia. These two department which is main guys on collecting data and doing M&E of data collecting. The most special; EMIS data is use for all level since national level till school level, included private sector. Even though, these technical department can respond these work well but there is lack human resource also because these are hard word. So kindly learn experience from other countries. Thanks

Do not respect the local cultures of the countries or Making children work

Good to learn about the ethical perspectives when it comes to data collection

What's the difference between justice and honest

As one of the bases of Ethics DO NO HARM teaches us to Honor the dignity, well-being, and self-worth of individuals. Do not, intentionally or unintentionally, cause physical, emotional or reputational damage to the people affected by your work.

Do no harm; Is the principle of ethical behaviour which has a large area concern. Harm can happen in different situations, whether deliberately or accidentally.

So individual who are dealing with ethics must think of a wide scope of unethic environments which can harm individuals.

Harm can be physical, emotional, psychological or reputational

It is true that no matter how the much the data cause seems harmless, it is still very important to keep it anonymous and confidential. This is purposely to avoid any blame from opposition people or politicians who are against the organization carrying out the data collection. The notes we're clear and self explanotary

It is true that no matter how the much the data cause seems harmless, it is still very important to keep it anonymous and confidential. This is purposely to avoid any blame from opposition people or politicians who are against the organization carrying out the data collection. The notes we're clear and self explanotary

Do no harm are consider the experience of your participants, Ensure that all participants give informed consent to collect and use their data, Ensure that, when appropriate, participant data is kept anonymous and confidential, Identify and avoid potential areas where your data may exacerbate existing inequities.

It is good to avoid from areas where we know our data may be stolen and it will make a harm to our beneficiary.

ethics are key in any venture which involves participants or people as subjects

the data collection exercise must be comfortable for the participant...

data segregation must also be done in such as way that it is not possible to identify a participant

very true

true. it is important to look at the data collection procedure from the beneficiaries. point of view...

other key ethics include; benevolence, respect and consent...

what happens if the harm was not anticipated by the researcher?

Whenever data is being collected, it is important to keep in mind that we are trying to creat a just and as well positive solution to the affected communities. Therefore, we are encouraged no to cause physical, emotional or reputation damage to the same people affected by our work. This wants us to honor their dignity, well-being and self-worthness. To strongly avoid the above, it is important to focus on protecting the data we are trying to collect. This involves considering the experience of the participants and they must as well be given informed consent of the data to be collected. Finally, the participant's data must be kept anonymous and confidential and it is important to identify areas where collected data may not be tempered with.

I have witnessed many times how the Monitoring & Evaluation team under pressure from donors and deadlines forcibly collects certain data, not thinking about protecting the privacy of those from whom they collected data. It's great that extra attention was paid to this as well.

The duty of the researcher is not to cause harm. Judgements need to be made about what are acceptable levels of harm

This is very informative. So far I only pay attention to the fact that ensuring all data collected to be kept confidential, keeping profiles of respondents anonymous and not sharing it with other irrelevant stakeholders, but this module provides further information on other important elements of data collection related to No Harm principle.

This is very sensitive ethical problem. Why do I say so? For example we are collecting data on how the county/regional development fund affects the life of people in different regions of a given country. Consider the fact that base on the findings from this report certain regions are not properly using the funds in the best interest of the people, political leaders of those regions will be interested to know names of people who may have given this nature of data. If certain group of people are identify or certain ethnic group is identify, they become unsafe because their identity have been compromise.

Whenever you collecting data to implement a project make sure that the information you collect don't reflect any form of harm to those provided the data.

It is very important that the M & E data collection process follow ‘Do No Harm’ principle so as to avoid causing any harm to those who are involved in this process. In the context of M & E, Do No Harm means that the data collection process and its usage must not bring harms or damages to those who are sources of information and data. So how can we prepare that our data collection process will not cause harms to those who are providing the information. First, make sure that the data collection tools such as interviews or focus group discussions do not cause burden to the participants or interviewees by taking a lot of their time. Thus, the use of these tools should be focused and specific to obtain the essential information being sought. Second, the use of information or dissemination of such information may provoke adverse consequences to the participants. Thus, explain the purpose of the use of the data/information well the participants in order to have their consent to use or to disseminate it. Even with their informed consent, the data collectors should be vigilant of the use of these data and information in order to avoid any potential harms to the community involved in the M & E process. Third, the information and data obtained need to be achieved securely should not be disseminated without informed consent of the providers of those data and information. Fourth, the anonymity of the participants giving information and data should be respected. Some people do not want their names to be mentioned for the information they provide. In such case, their anonymity needs to be respected fully. The last but not the least, the data collection process as well as the dissemination of findings need to be respectful and sensitive of local culture, traditions, religions, gender role, sexual orientation, age etc under the principle of the Do No Harm.

Ethical aspect is one of the core areas that all M & E practitioners have to deal with. This aspect is broad and there is no fixed standards or criteria to approach the ethical issues comprehensively. However, this is necessary to be minimized as best as possible by all M & E practitioners. I’d like to discuss a few fundamental principles that should be adhered to.
The first principle is ‘Do no harm’. The data collection process can sometimes be harmful to those who are providing information especially when such information is sensitive. Thus, the data collectors need to be very careful with this. In such situations, the data collection activity must avoid causing any harm to those who provides information. Unless such potential harm is considered unavoidable, then I think it should not be continued. Second principle is confidentiality, the information and data obtained need to be achieved securely should not be disseminated without informed consent of the providers of those data and information. Third principle is anonymity of the participants giving information and data. Some people do not want their names to be mentioned for the information they provide. In such case, their anonymity needs to be respected fully. The last but not the least, the data collection process as well as the dissemination of findings need to be respectful and sensitive of local culture, traditions, religions, gender role, sexual orientation, age etc.

Ethics issue are a bit complex ,the people in charge need to make sure that everything is done to utmost standards

It is our duty to safe guard the identity and information of our participants so that their information does not fall in the wrong hands and damage the well being, reputation or violet the privacy of our participants.

According to the ethical principle your organization may have unique set of people with their own moral, religions and cultural belief. in this regard do no harm. may apply in some case, I may not release the information because it may harm the political opponent because it may further generate harm to the society. the aim is not to course harm to the community or sociaty.

In last comment above, the data showing that some of the people belonging to this group do commit crimes could be used by political opponents to further their cause and result in harm to those you were surveying. Need to carefully consider how to honestly present the data from your project while avoiding causing harm to your participants.

The module is very clear and understanding because it helps us to respect the reputation of the people also help us to work with different groups of people depending on their experiences.

the M&E ethical principle is very important and is something that can closely be compared to doctors Hippocratic oath. Most importantly though, it is prudent to be human even in the face of doing our professional work as M&E by adhering to these principles.

Data should be anonymous, it should not be able to be traced or linked back to the participant who provided that data. Who should not be able to link the data back to the participant? Is it the data collector, or just the other people who may have access to the data, or both?
If its data collector too, how will they be able to reach the participants again to correct or complete the data if need arise?

It is important to accurately define the indicators and to do a mock test of the questions and possibly a pilot before interviewing the participants.

Obtaining a written consent is very important.

It is important to keep collected data confidential or anonymous, so that participants are not exposed to possible harm and damage

DO NO HARM is an essential principle of ethical behavior in M&E.

This is actively avoiding causing harm to individuals (eg participants, stake holders, other people etc).

What to consider:

• the experience of participants. data collection should not be too long, time consuming or stressful to them.
• the consent for collection and use of data collected.
• anonymously (leave out personal details of participates so they cannot be identified) or confidentially (where personal data is collected on participants, ensure data is only accessible by people with permission to do so) keeping of data collected.
• how others may make use of data collected. Avoid how data collected could for example be used to further discriminate against a certain group of people.

This will bring us to the issue of confidentiality. if there is no confidentiality then the "DO NO HARM" principle is not going to work. in our society people are afraid to share useful and important information because of lack of trust.

Used to indicate that a situation or action will not hurt someone, whether or not it will provide any benefit.
Do no Harm is a principle of bioethics that is also commonly used in areas such as sustainability. The principle is typically interpreted to mean that your actions should not cause injury or injustice to people. The principle, in its strictest sense can be applied to inaction.
DO NO HARM does not, and cannot, make things simpler. Rather, DO NO HARM helps us get a handle on the complexity of the conflict environments where we work. It helps us see how decisions we make affect intergroup relationships. It helps us think of different ways of doing things to have better effects. The aim is to help assistance workers deal with the real complexities of providing assistance in conflicts with less frustration and more clarity and, it is hoped, with better outcomes for the societies where assistance is provided.

It is extremly important to ensure people about data anonymous and confidential and its involvements. This confident must remain between people and whom are supposed to manage data

How to ensure your M&E cause no harm to other participants, stakeholders and others.

I. I'm still having challenges with point 3

2. What if the respondent or participant can't read, is it possible to read read it for him/her.

3. Language barrier:, is it possible to get a translator for a respondent who don't understand per said language used

It is important for an M& E expert to honor the dignity , well-being and self worth of individuals by mot intentionally or unintentionally causing physical , emotional or reputational damage to the participants. The Do No Harm Principle instructs researchers to actively avoid causing damage when collecting data.

When collecting data it is important for the M&E team to :

1. Consider the experiences of the participants
   2.Ensure that all participants give informed consent to collect and use their data
   3.Identify and avoid potential areas where your data may exacerbate existing inequalities

How can you do no harm to the people you are collecting data from?

many people can take advantage of people's information inthe rural areas because of educational background

To ensure your m and e practice cause no harm consider the experience of your participants , ensure that they give consent to collect their information and ensure that their data is kept anonymous and confidential

What happens when the data is exposed

teaches us to be confidential to the data collected

It is equally important to avoid harm to prevent any future consequences.

Participants should be explained to on what is required of them and participate voluntary without any fear. Inform the participants of why data is being collected and that it will be in safe hands with no consequences. Being friendly will also help.

very true

The ethics are important in M & E process and this topic may require further discussion in more details.

How do we ensure non biaseness during data collection

We have to look for the participants who at least have experience ,data has to be stored for confidentiality .

the four points on "Do No Harm" are very important to be considered. Its very clear now on the reasons why. Good points

Honour is the dignity, well-being and self- worth of individual,if you cause physical, emotional or reputational damage to the people either intentionally or unintentionally it will affected by your work

As you have meant above "the disclosure of very sensitive information, such as health information, sexual or political information, can harm an individual's reputation or safety."
Data is property of the organization, hence we cannot disclose its information.

A leak in data may cause a lot of damages to the beneficiaries as well as the reputation of an organization. Therefore, the importance of making sure that data is confidential in data management systems and anonymous especially in external presentations and reports can never be over emphasized.

In reply to this topic, there is a real analytical view i have come across were the insurance of informed consent is particularly important especially in the collection of data within with rural communities. As one has to follow protocol for them to be able to have permission to intercept within the community or villages to carry their analysis. The protocol is presumed by the village chiefs, the police , the councilors of the village wards and also including the governmental ministries within the surroundings of the study area. This is important to practice as ethical uncertainties will be broken because the authorities within the area would have granted permission for the organization to carry out its study.

While some medical schools ask their graduates to abide by the Hippocratic Oath, others use a different pledge — or none at all. And in fact, although “first, do no harm” is attributed to the ancient Greek physician Hippocrates, it isn’t a part of the Hippocratic Oath at all. It is actually from another of his works called Of the Epidemics.

Despite the need to collect high quality data to robustly inform our decisions, there is need to ensure we keep in mind the experiences of our respondents and keep our surveys short enjoyable. I have been part of a data collection that had surveys designed without consideration of the recipients experience or triggers for traumatic events. The do no harm principle is always necessary in ensuring an ethically sound data collection process.

Its very important to consider the issue of causing harm during and after the project. So when carrying out a project that probes into people's personal life and experiences it is vital to avoid intentional or unintentional damage to the people involved in the project.

I agree on this we should not harm the people for our data.

Untrained researchers or data-collectors usually make many ethical issues. Harms and their consequences can cost the organizations much more the cost of training.

Ethics means the principles that guide morally correct behavior
Do no harm is one of the ethics principle.
Consider the experience of your participants
Ensure all participants gives informed consent to collect and use their data.

Ensure that when appropriate participants data is kept anonymous and confidential.

how to ensure that M&E practices cause no harm to participants, stakeholders or other people.

It is therefore ver essential to consider thge welfare of the participants who are providing us with data keep the information they provides us confident and bar u authorized personnel to access the information. They also must be kept anonymous and the information they provide must not be traceable to the data provider.

It is important that the topic of any survey or evaluation is explicitly explained to participants, no cession, participants must be willing to be part of the survey and sign informed consent forms, also on the part of the organization the staff should have signed confidentiality agreements to ensure that no harmful information may be leaked out i.e. HIV Status of participants .

content of the questionnaire should not make participants feel ashamed , even the way the questions are asked.

I think 'Don No Harm' is very important principle not only for data collecion and for M&E , its important for all activities done by an organization and it should be the first leading principle while working in an organization.
and from my expereince 'Do No Harm' should start at the planning of data collection and the related activities and then it should be used in the implementation of data collectioas as well and later in the analysis and sharing insights about the data.

1.in organization you must consider the following steps.

• Consider the experience of your participants
• ensure that all participants gives information consent to collect and use their data
• ensure that,when appropriate data is kept anonymous and confident ntial
• identify and avoid potential areas where your data my exacerbate existing inequities

All points in this section are very keen to consider before collecting data. And the first 3 points are more likely used or applied in the introduction part. Most of the introductions in data survey states the purpose of the data collection, the rationale in the data collection, the time expected to take during interview and lastly to comfort the participant by assuring that the information provided is confidential.
But at the last point it is tricky. I consider the participant as my client, but we need the information to identify some issues that need to be addressed. I might stay quiet for some information to protect my clients but I will e guilty to stay quiet on the bad manners in the community.

I understood that the priciple of DO NO HARM is very important in Data collection Process.

c'est très intéressant

I am Peter from Uganda, I am happy to be part of this Team. This is a very true and fair topic, i have read through and related it to many scenarios, I need an explanation of the Term Anonymous. thanks

Potentially, one's M&E activities can cause damage to either individual beneficiaries, participating communities, and other stakeholders. In this light, The Do No Harm principle is a moral guide that enables M&E practitioners to be mindful of causing harm. This principle encourages one to be aware of participants' experiences and guarantee that they all give informed consent to collect and use their data. By this, participants must know what data the project aspires to get from them and how the process of collecting that data might affect them; also, they must give approval.
Besides, to ensure participants' safety, this principle also provides for anonymity and confidentiality. It also cautions about identifying and avoiding activities that have the propensity of worsening existing unfair treatment on participants.

During designing the data collection process and types of data being collected; then all the precautions should be taken or considered that the privacy of the respondents should be kept. One should keep in mind that how the data to be collected, represented without causing any harm to anybody.