An Introduction to the ‘Indicators Project’.

In 2014 we embarked on a project – known to us as the ‘Indicators Project’ – to create the first ever guidance on monitoring and evaluating dog population management interventions.

And in 2015 we launched the guidance at the 2nd International Conference on Dog Population Management in Istanbul.  

Why did we invest in this project?

Almost every country invests in dog population management in some form. However there is no agreed measure to establish whether an intervention is ‘working’. The ICAM Coalition has developed guidance on monitoring and evaluation of dog population management interventions that supports academics, practitioners and funders to track progress, learn and improve their dog population management impact through the use of measurable indicators.

If we can help people to monitor effectively, they could increase the rate at which they adapt and improve their work significantly. Our focus is on applying scientific solutions to real world problems and encouraging an increase in scientific research on dog population management; our scope is international, with a particular interest in simple methods and meaningful indicators for communities searching for cost-effective impact assessment.

What have we produced?

  • A literature review(of both published and ‘grey’ literature) covering efforts to measure dog population management to date plus experience from other monitoring and evaluation fields
  • A guidance documentexplaining current best practice for monitoring and evaluating dog population management including recommended indicators and methods of measuring these
  • An online tool to help you choose indicators to measure the impact of your dog population management programme
  • A dog body condition scoring tool and quiz.

Full guidance too long?

Try our Dog Population Management Impact Assessment Tool. This is an online interactive tool to help you navigate the guidance and create your own tailored document. It will ask you a series of short questions about your dogs and your intervention, based on your answers the tool creates a PDF document with just those indicators and methods of measurement that appear most suited to your needs. Remember the chapters ‘background’ and ‘making your impact assessment robust’ are relevant for every intervention.

Want to learn more about body condition scoring?

We recommend body condition as an indicator of dog welfare. If you would like to learn more about how to visually assess the body condition of a dog, try our Dog Body Condition Scoring Training. Once you have completed the training you can test out your scoring ability by trying our Dog Body Condition Scoring Quiz.

Who did we collaborate with?

The Indicators project benefited from the engagement of Collaborating Partners that provided scientific rigour and multi-disciplinary expertise to help build the foundation for this novel and vital research field. Partners were invited to collaborate because they brought academic and practical leadership in several topics essential to success of the project. The ICAM coalition is extremely grateful to all partners for sharing in our ambition to see the aims of this project achieved and for their highly significant donation of time and knowledge.

Did we make a difference?

If you have any comments about this guidance we value hearing from you, please email info@icam-coalition.org