Networks and networking have become some of the most important ways of organising for social change. They are powerful tools in the hands of people and groups concerned with influencing the complex social, economic and political forces that shape society and people's lives. Networks and networking organisations need effective planning, monitoring and evaluation (PME) methodologies and techniques to help set their goals and strategies, work efficiently and effectively, be accountable to their stakeholders, measure the effects and impact of their work and feed this knowledge into future planning and making of strategies.

There are no guidebooks on planning, monitoring and evaluation for networking. This Women's Feature Service compilation aims at bridging the gap somehow. It, as editor Marilee Karl claims in her preface, seeks to provide a greater understanding of the nature of networks and networking; share the experiences of networks and networking organisations in planning, monitoring and evaluation: the problems, challenges, practices and successes; distil from these experiences lessons and guidelines to strengthen PME in networks and networking organisations; and promote greater understanding and cooperation between funding agencies and the networks and networking organisations that they support.

It was at the Workshop on Criteria for Evaluation and Monitoring of International Women's Networks in Wassenaar, the Netherlands, in May 1993 that the seeds of this much-needed compilation were planted. This meeting had been convened at the plea of the coordinator of the Women Living Under Muslim Laws (WLUML) since she and other international women's networks felt that the evaluation criteria used by funding agencies were not pertinent to the work that they (the networks) were doing. Novib's international desk, which was funding networks, agreed that there was a need to understand how international networks could best be evaluated. It organised this workshop in coordination with WLUML. Among others who attended the meeting were Change, Feminist International Radio Endeavour (FIRE), Flora Tristan, Center for Women's Global Leadership, International Women's Rights Action Watch (IWRAW), Isis International, Isis Wicce, Latin American Committee for the Defence of Women's Rights (CLADEM), Women's Feature Service (WFS), Women's Global Network for Reproductive Rights (WGNRR), and Women Living Under Muslim Laws (WLUML).

What emerged was an almost unanimous view that the commonly used evaluation methodologies designed to measure quantitative outputs were often inappropriate for networks that aim to bring about qualitative changes in people's lives and society. Varying standards and systems of accounting and reporting to funding agencies were unnecessarily cumbersome and time-consuming too. Funding agencies moreover, most agreed, often misunderstood the roles, ideologies, cultures and strategies of networks. Some even did not respect the autonomy of these networks. Few understood what the networks involved, especially the intangible aspects of linking and supporting others, encouraging and stimulating activities, and showing solidarity. There were others who went to the extent of questioning the very goals, strategies and feminist thinking of the networks. All this, apart from the ubiquitous gender bias.

The Wassenaar workshop looked at ways that monitoring and evaluation could be helpful to their networks and shared monitoring and evaluation techniques and methods they found useful. Participants felt the need and the desire to further develop relevant methods of monitoring and evaluation. Novib and El Taller organised a networking workshop in Tunis, Tunisia, a year later. The main aim, this time, was to work towards producing guidelines on monitoring and evaluation of international networks, guidelines that would overcome the difficulties of quantifying their achievements and that would identify ways to measure their impact and usefulness. Among the participants were Both ENDS, International Alert (IA), International Commission of Jurists (ICJ), NGONET, SOS Torture, Third World Network (TWN), Women's Feature Service (WFS), and Women's Global Network for Reproductive Rights (WGNRR). It was at this workshop that participants came up with an outline for a publication on guidelines for PME. It was decided that each topic would be illustrated by mini case studies from different international networks and networking organisations.

While the power and importance of networks and networking was beyond any question, there were many challenges that were common to most. The first common problem was finding the most appropriate structure. All consciously avoid pyramidal and heavy bureaucratic structures found in traditional organisations The tendency to become more formal as they expand was also found. As networks expand, they and the host organisations (which supply infrastructure, staff and other kinds of support) face the challenge of defining their relationship. Tensions too arise once in a while over what can be best termed as an identity crisis. These however, the contributors feel, are a normal phase in the development of networks and can be resolved either by the network becoming autonomous or by a negotiation and clear agreement between the network and the host organisation on the terms of their relationship, responsibilities and accountability. One difficult challenge to meet in the information age is to ensure that the use of new communications technologies does not exclude those who do not have access to these. Human contact is still important to communication and networking.

The role of networking, information sharing and communication in people's empowerment is not always apparent to donors. Convincing donors of the importance of networking is one of the challenging aspects. Closely related to issues of participation is the challenge of ensuring equality of relationships and respect for autonomy and diversity. Conflicts of interest and tensions too can arise in networking on various levels. One of these is the tension that may exist between working at the local level and working at the international level. But, since the goals of most networks is to ensure dialogue between the global and grassroots levels, and to strengthen local work by making it part of a larger movement, the tension between working on the local and international levels is an important challenge to face and resolve. There can be conflicts of interest when key networkers are members of more than one organisation. While membership in more than one network can be enriching, networks and networking organisations sometimes overlap and competition may arise among them. Finally, there is the danger of infiltration and isolation. Networks and nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) work in a world of politics, powerful interest groups and organisations with differing positions. For their own survival and effectiveness, networks and other social change organisations must learn to deal with and, where feasible, work with governments and other interest groups.

The objective of this compilation was to find out whether it was possible to measure the impact of networks and networking. As Karl says, it was an attempt to measure the immeasurable. The attempt did not go in vain. Networks and networking, she asserts, have become significant ways of organising and taking action among people and groups who are concerned with influencing the complex and global social, economic and political forces that shape people's lives and society. Measuring the effects and impact of networks and networking organisations helps them strengthen their efforts and find the best ways of attaining their goals and objectives. Karl says measuring the effects and impacts of networking also demonstrates its value. The role of networks and networking in people's empowerment is not always immediately apparent. Measuring the effects and impact can demonstrate the important roles played by networks and networking organisations to funding agencies and their constituencies and governments.

Traditional economics prescribes that trade depends on the efficient combination of labour, capital and raw materials - enhanced by storage, transportation and financing facilities. The role of trade in enhancing development is beyond doubt. Trade has the potential to increase consumers' purchasing power in rich and poor countries alike. Thanks to trade, buyers can access goods that are manufactured more economically and are of higher quality. Persistent trade deficits identify the weak areas of agriculture, industry and services. Trade surpluses highlight competitive industries. Trade may create unemployment for one, and a job for another. Trading centres have emerged over time at crossroads all over the world, leading to prosperity for cities and nations lacking natural resources, but strategically located and efficiently operated.

Trade may be catapulted by technological breakthroughs available to one, but inaccessible to another. The British Empire considered time and its measurement so strategic that it imposed the death penalty on watchmakers sharing their knowledge with the enemy. Industrial espionage is nothing new; competition to own and control proprietary information was as important in Napoleon Bonaparte's time - when the need to preserve food on the frontline led to the invention of the tin can in France and the glass jar in the United Kingdom - as it was in the Cold war. Nor is trade restricted to agricultural and industrial products: it is growing rapidly in services intellectual property rights - and even the right to pollute or the capacity to generate oxygen.

On the one hand, trade neglects cultural identity and simply follows purchasing power. On the other, from the Silk Route to the Viking voyages, the exchange of goods has promoted cultural understanding, and allowed new techniques and products to be adopted, Spaghetti, an Italian 'original', was famously invented by the Chinese. The search for new trading routes drove the world to finance voyages that led to the discoveries of new continents and the creation of new nations. Trade has its heroes, such as Marco Polo; it has its 'villains', such as post-war Japan.

For some, trade in general, and free trade in particular, is a core component of development; others view it as an obstacle to development. Both camps can advance examples to support their position. The Japanese and Koreans protected their markets against any disruptive form of importation - and, even today, the world's richest nations remain highly protective of some market segments. Even the champions of free trade apply restrictions: the Jones Act in the US, the Swiss trucking standards which effectively restrict access through the Alps on EU freight, and product safety measures in Japan. Many products and servioces face barriers, some formal, some informal, and they almost always deprive consumers of access to cheaper, better products. Some forms of protection are, of course, necessary to safeguard the survival of cultural identity, artisan production or maintain environmental and social standards. This chapter does not offer a criticism of trade or question its role in development. Rather, it examines how trade can evolve in symbiosis with development by suggesting how the present trading system can be restructured to accelerate economic development and reduce pollution simultaneously, and identifying new strategies and trends that can help the existing system serve those who today benefit least from it.

In the process, it examines the importance of information, innovative ways to expand trade, systems to assure that small and medium-sized companies have their fair share in the continuing globalisation of trade, and strategies for survival against the onslaught from overly aggressive and powerful corporations. It also attempts to learn from history, while sharing ideas on how the core objectives of socially just and environmentally sustainable economic development - increased productivity, competitiveness, job creation and reduced pollution - can be met. All four must be considered simultaneously, and there must be no trade-off between any of them - otherwise free trade's ability to help meet the basic needs of society for food, water, shelter, healthcare, energy, transport and employment will be thwarted. If this happens, its legitimacy will be rightly questioned.