Comments - Evaluation in Partnership with Community - Gender and Evaluation2024-03-28T17:29:07Zhttps://gendereval.ning.com/profiles/comment/feed?attachedTo=6606644%3ABlogPost%3A86941&xn_auth=no3. How did you manage dynamic…tag:gendereval.ning.com,2020-03-28:6606644:Comment:937002020-03-28T09:00:56.167ZTom Kellyhttps://gendereval.ning.com/profile/TomKelly
<p><span>3. How did you manage dynamics between evaluator and communities, and power dynamics amongst community members?</span></p>
<p><span>This is a great question that even with respect and professional desire to "help" and "not harm" there is still a lack of recognition of the power and privilege of educated professionals not fully respecting or understanding how to FOLLOW community leadership. First, the communities that did this best, frankly, had to struggle through the long task of…</span></p>
<p><span>3. How did you manage dynamics between evaluator and communities, and power dynamics amongst community members?</span></p>
<p><span>This is a great question that even with respect and professional desire to "help" and "not harm" there is still a lack of recognition of the power and privilege of educated professionals not fully respecting or understanding how to FOLLOW community leadership. First, the communities that did this best, frankly, had to struggle through the long task of working together to define shared values and develop trusting relationships. This was usually bumpy. Dealing constructively with conflict. Reminding each other and holding each other accountable to promises, expectations, but also the shared accountability to real results for the children in the nhood - the goal they all shared. We have lots of examples where a stumble/struggle led to better relationships and trust if real learning took place. Frankly also, there were lots of professional evaluators who had the interest to do this work but not the skills or patience or the ability to hold their egos/professional privilege in check (myself included). We also had incredible experiences of residents stepping up and into influential roles as data translators, accountability coaches. </span></p> 2. What was your definition o…tag:gendereval.ning.com,2020-03-28:6606644:Comment:936992020-03-28T08:50:29.153ZTom Kellyhttps://gendereval.ning.com/profile/TomKelly
<p>2. <span>What was your definition of engagement? </span></p>
<p><span>I need to invite in my colleague Dr. Audrey Jordan (now in CA) [and the late Dr. Mary Achatz (Westat)] who worked extensively on putting more intention and definition around what "engagement" meant. I will refer to part of her work from this initiative in this document: </span><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Sustaining Neighborhood Change: The Power of Resident Leadership, Social Networks, and Community…</span></p>
<p>2. <span>What was your definition of engagement? </span></p>
<p><span>I need to invite in my colleague Dr. Audrey Jordan (now in CA) [and the late Dr. Mary Achatz (Westat)] who worked extensively on putting more intention and definition around what "engagement" meant. I will refer to part of her work from this initiative in this document: </span><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Sustaining Neighborhood Change: The Power of Resident Leadership, Social Networks, and Community Mobilization </span><span> <a href="https://www.issuelab.org/resource/sustaining-neighborhood-change-the-power-of-resident-leadership-social-networks-and-community-mobilization.html">https://www.issuelab.org/resource/sustaining-neighborhood-change-the-power-of-resident-leadership-social-networks-and-community-mobilization.html</a></span></p>
<p><span>First, there was no clear and shared definition of what "resident engagement" meant at the beginning of the initiative. In one way, that was okay and allowed for some local definition and approach. It also meant that it could be anything without accountability. Jordan and Achatz and local teams helped to push on the definitions more intentionally and consider voice, participation, advocacy, leadership, and accountability to constituency. </span></p>
<p><span>I am also reminded of Vu Le's trickle-down community engagement: <a href="https://nonprofitaf.com/2015/01/are-you-or-your-org-guilty-of-trickle-down-community-engagement/">https://nonprofitaf.com/2015/01/are-you-or-your-org-guilty-of-trickle-down-community-engagement/</a></span></p>
<p></p> (Apologies, @Rituu...way too…tag:gendereval.ning.com,2020-03-28:6606644:Comment:939182020-03-28T08:41:03.510ZTom Kellyhttps://gendereval.ning.com/profile/TomKelly
<p>(Apologies, @Rituu...way too late in response - I hope everyone is healthy and safe)</p>
<ol>
<li>How did you define the community? Who amongst the community members engaged in evaluation?</li>
</ol>
<p>This ended up being a fascinating part of the work. First, there was some foundation-driven definition of geographic boundaries at the beginning of the initiative with an initial expectation of a neighborhood with high concentration of poor families with children of about 10-12,000. These…</p>
<p>(Apologies, @Rituu...way too late in response - I hope everyone is healthy and safe)</p>
<ol>
<li>How did you define the community? Who amongst the community members engaged in evaluation?</li>
</ol>
<p>This ended up being a fascinating part of the work. First, there was some foundation-driven definition of geographic boundaries at the beginning of the initiative with an initial expectation of a neighborhood with high concentration of poor families with children of about 10-12,000. These were negotiated (in part) with local institutional partners. What we learned as time went on, and with more data and participation by residents, that there were differences (small and large) in how residents defined "place" and how the institutions defined the neighborhood -- this also showed up in the differences among census tracts, political subdistricts, natural places separated by natural and human-made barriers, and history. The community survey asked residents to name and draw the boundary of their neighborhood and their definition (and name) differed across race, tenure in the neighborhood, and history. Most dramatically this occurred in Oakland, CA where depending on the household's history, tenure, race - they called and defined the nhood very differently. This was less the case in places with strong, well-defined "neighborhoods" that also had some political identity (and power) and actual political relevance to the city/county government. In neighborhoods with many newcomers and immigrants, this also showed up as "community" and nhood being less place-based -- and organized around where people congregated for religious service (even if they did not live there), ethnic/cultural business centers, etc. I will never assume the concept of place and nhood ever again. </p> Here is a video by IDEV AFDB…tag:gendereval.ning.com,2019-10-22:6606644:Comment:887832019-10-22T20:38:54.061ZRituu B Nandahttps://gendereval.ning.com/profile/1uniqcg103ltu
<p>Here is a video by IDEV AFDB on participatory evaluation</p>
<p><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/MOYQv4P63Ac?wmode=opaque" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</p>
<p>Here is a video by IDEV AFDB on participatory evaluation</p>
<p><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/MOYQv4P63Ac?wmode=opaque" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</p> Thanks Tom. I have more quest…tag:gendereval.ning.com,2019-10-22:6606644:Comment:889442019-10-22T11:27:05.487ZRituu B Nandahttps://gendereval.ning.com/profile/1uniqcg103ltu
<p>Thanks Tom. I have more questions.</p>
<ol>
<li>How did you define the community? Who amongst the community members engaged in evaluation?</li>
<li>What was your definition of engagement? </li>
<li>How did you manage dynamics between evaluator and communities, and power dynamics amongst community members</li>
</ol>
<p>Thanks Tom. I have more questions.</p>
<ol>
<li>How did you define the community? Who amongst the community members engaged in evaluation?</li>
<li>What was your definition of engagement? </li>
<li>How did you manage dynamics between evaluator and communities, and power dynamics amongst community members</li>
</ol> Aloha Rituu and thanks for yo…tag:gendereval.ning.com,2019-10-21:6606644:Comment:889332019-10-21T00:14:43.674ZTom Kellyhttps://gendereval.ning.com/profile/TomKelly
<p>Aloha Rituu and thanks for your questions.</p>
<p>1+2a. These were intentional learning and evaluation partnerships with residents of low-income urban neighborhoods. There also were intentional outreach efforts made to specific groups (eg, single mothers, new immigrants) and ethnic/racial groups. </p>
<p>2b. Although invitations and outreach were broad and ongoing (with resources for barriers to participation like transportation and child care) there was a challenge in engagement especially…</p>
<p>Aloha Rituu and thanks for your questions.</p>
<p>1+2a. These were intentional learning and evaluation partnerships with residents of low-income urban neighborhoods. There also were intentional outreach efforts made to specific groups (eg, single mothers, new immigrants) and ethnic/racial groups. </p>
<p>2b. Although invitations and outreach were broad and ongoing (with resources for barriers to participation like transportation and child care) there was a challenge in engagement especially for young families with children (TIME). Increasingly, the local learning partnerships relied on the relationships and networks of the group to be the communicators to others who could not participate. Financial reimbursements for time were decided by each group with some deciding to offer $ and others insisting that $ was the wrong incentive. </p>
<p>3. Although not planned at the outset then (20 years ago), I do think the learning partnerships that spent initial time defining some principles of their work and intent did a much better job at balancing voice and participation with additional efforts made for those usually not heard. I also think a lot was learned about how to communicate and advocate using data in ways that did not "put off" or frighten away people who thought that "data" work was not for them or that they could not be in the driver seat around a research agenda. </p> Hi Tom,
Thanks for posting y…tag:gendereval.ning.com,2019-10-13:6606644:Comment:888102019-10-13T13:11:30.918ZRituu B Nandahttps://gendereval.ning.com/profile/1uniqcg103ltu
<p>Hi Tom, </p>
<p>Thanks for posting your blog. i facilitate participation in evaluation and would like to learn from your experience. I had three questions. Thanks!</p>
<ol>
<li>Please would you define what you mean by partnership with communities</li>
<li>How do you select who to involve in communities in this partnership?</li>
<li>How do you ensure that the most marginalized groups in the community get a voice?</li>
</ol>
<p>Hi Tom, </p>
<p>Thanks for posting your blog. i facilitate participation in evaluation and would like to learn from your experience. I had three questions. Thanks!</p>
<ol>
<li>Please would you define what you mean by partnership with communities</li>
<li>How do you select who to involve in communities in this partnership?</li>
<li>How do you ensure that the most marginalized groups in the community get a voice?</li>
</ol>