Evaluation as Community-Building
Your community has the vision and expertise to develop and implement amazing initiatives. I see my role as supporting your internal community of leaders and staff, and bridging relationships with external communities, to create a collaborative space to define, measure, and achieve impact. Evaluation and research can happen in any phase of a project, no matter what your needs are.
I offer various approaches…
Developmental evaluation is an approach that assists innovators and change makers to develop social change initiatives in complex or uncertain times. In this process, the evaluator is involved throughout the entire project, providing learnings on an ongoing basis. Developmental evaluation provides initial direction, tests quick iterations, and provides real-time data to track development, surface issues, and illuminate potential paths forward.
Goals-based evaluation focuses on the extent to which a program or initiative meets its predetermined goals and objectives. Goals-based evaluation helps with the development of successful processes and guides the realignment or discarding of unsuccessful processes.
Outcomes-based evaluation measures the results of a program or initiative and the extent to which it impacts/benefits/changes your audiences and/or community. Outcomes are often defined in terms of enhanced learning, such as knowledge, perceptions/attitudes or skills, as well as conditions such as self-reliance or self-efficacy. Depending on the program, evaluations can assess short-term, intermediate-term, and long-term outcomes.
I conduct evaluations with a collaborative and inclusive approach to ensure the work is relevant and meaningful to you, your organization, and your communities. I believe relationship-building is key to a successful evaluation and empower my clients to engage in the evaluation and research process to the extent they are able and interested. My work with communities is rooted in humility and kindness, with the belief that communities are the experts of their own people. I believe data can be holistic and honor the myriad of ways communities share and contribute their experiences and expertise.