Livelihoods Metrics Guidance

Livelihoods metrics describe the economic participation created by a RICA project. They should be broad enough for sponsors to report practically while still giving investors a credible view of community economic outcomes.

Metrics

Metric	Unit	Reporting Boundary	Primary Evidence
Community Income	currency	Income generated through direct wages, local suppliers, producer income, service income, or other community and value-chain channels.	Payroll records, supplier payments, producer payment records, buyer statements, ledgers.
Jobs Created	FTE	Full-time equivalent jobs created or supported through project implementation and operations.	HR records, payroll, contractor logs, attendance records, role register.

Community Income

Community Income replaces narrower distinctions such as labor income, farm income, or external community income. A sponsor should report the income channels that are relevant to the project, then explain what is included.

Common errors include mixing project revenue with community income, reporting gross buyer sales without identifying the share reaching community participants, or omitting the currency basis.

Jobs Created

Jobs Created uses full-time equivalent units. RICA does not require sponsors to split skilled and unskilled jobs as common metrics because that split can be cumbersome and inconsistent. Sponsors may still track role categories internally where useful.

FTE reporting should explain whether the value is an average for the month, end-of-period employment, or job creation during the period. Reviewers should avoid summing the same ongoing job across many months as if it were a new job each month.

Inclusion Notes

Livelihoods reporting should be accompanied by stakeholder context when possible: who benefits, how payments are made, whether work is seasonal, and whether community or producer organizations participate in governance.