EvaluLand

This month I chat with Brittany Dernberger about her evaluation background and practice. Brittany Dernberger is a sociologist and gender inequality expert who has led research, evaluation, and organizational learning across academia, philanthropy, government, large international NGOs, and small nonprofits. Brittany currently leads global initiatives to measure systems-level change at CARE and co-chairs the American Evaluation Association Systems in Evaluation Topical Interest Group. Learn more about Brittany’s work at http://brittanydernberger.com/. Access CARE’s completed Systems-Level Impact evaluations at https://careevaluations.org/evaluation/keywords/systems-level-impact/. The AEA Systems in Evaluation TIG paper on Principles for Systems Thinking in is available at https://www.betterevaluation.org/sites/default/files/SETIG-Principles-FINAL-DRAFT-2018-9-9.pdf. Music by Matt Ingelson, http://www.mattingelsonmusic.com/

This month I talk with Allison Prieur about her experiences as a graduate student in evaluation and running a business. Some resources mentioned or suggested for listeners: * Logic of evaluation (https://www.psychologytoday.com/ca/blog/evaluation-social-betterment/201810/the-application-the-logic-evaluation-the-real-world) * Evaluation of logic in practice (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evalprogplan.2019.101681) * Destination Dissertation (https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781442246140/Destination-Dissertation-A-Traveler's-Guide-to-a-Done-Dissertation-Second-Edition) * Allison Prieur's LinkedIn profile (https://www.linkedin.com/in/allisonprieur) Music by Matt Ingelson, http://www.mattingelsonmusic.com/

In this episode, I chat with Corey Newhouse and Jessica Manta Meyer, both from Public Profit, about how to make evaluation capacity building sticky for the organizations we work with. Some resources mentioned: TIERS Framework (https://aea365.org/blog/ie-tig-week-laura-beals-and-rachel-albert-on-tiers-a-tool-for-allocating-evaluation-resources-at-nonprofit-agencies/) Tipping Point Community (https://tippingpoint.org/) Irvine Foundation (https://www.irvine.org/) Change Cadet (https://www.changecadet.com/) NonProfit AF (https://nonprofitaf.com/) article on capacity building does not work (https://nonprofitaf.com/2020/10/capacity-buildings-necessary-existential-crisis/) Info on the Public Profit’s evaluation cohort (https://www.publicprofit.net/Driving-Toward-Impact) Contact information: [email protected] About Corey: Corey got her start as a teacher at Summerbridge Cincinnati in the early 1990s and has been involved in educational equity and social justice movements ever since. She founded Public Profit to build a team that would seamlessly blend social science research methods, organizational change strategy, and a deep commitment to supporting changemakers. As the Founder and Principal of Public Profit, Corey leads the team’s strategic direction, external relationships, and business development. In addition, Corey serves as an internal thought partner to project teams, assisting with the design of Public Profit’s engagements in evaluation, capacity building, and strategic program design. She is co-author of Public Profit’s Creative Ways to Solicit Stakeholder Feedback and Dabbling in the Data, and a contributor to Evaluation Failures: 22 Tales of Mistakes Made and Lessons Learned. She is a co-editor of the volume, Measure, Use, Improve! Data Use in Out-of-School Time. About Jes: Jessica began her career as a peer volunteer on a national youth talkline providing referrals and support to youth in crisis. Challenged by what she heard on the talkline, and by some of her own experiences with the health care system, she developed an interest in health education, equity and advocacy, which launched a career in the social services sector. Eventually, Jessica combined that with a lifetime love of numbers and inquiry, which led her to program evaluation. Prior to joining Public Profit, Jessica had several years of experience creating, directing and evaluating a range of youth development, LGBT, and health programs. Her work has run the gamut of nonprofit and social service roles including nonprofit finance, human resources, development and agency-led evaluations. Jessica directs many of the projects at Public Profit. She designs evaluation studies, develops project strategy, and manages implementation including all aspects of data collection, analysis, and reporting. An expert facilitator, Jessica also facilitates large stakeholder meetings and evaluation capacity building trainings, and provides evaluation coaching to clients and staff alike.

In this episode, I chat with Michael Moses about theory-based approaches for navigating complexity, adaptive management, participatory strategy, and actions to shift power. Things and resources mentioned: Systems thinking in evaluation (https://www.bobwilliams.co.nz/ewExternalFiles/Wicked.pdf) (including a discussion of complexity) - Bob Williams and Sjon Van't Hof Outcome mapping (https://www.betterevaluation.org/methods-approaches/approaches/outcome-mapping) and outcome harvesting (https://www.betterevaluation.org/methods-approaches/approaches/outcome-harvesting) and emergent learning (https://emergentlearning.org/) Emergent Learning (https://emergentlearning.org/) (including before action reviews, after action reviews, emergent learning tables, and more approaches for supporting collective learning and action) Strategy Testing (https://asiafoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Strategy-Testing-An-Innovative-Approach-to-Monitoring-Highly-Flexible-Aid-Programs.pdf) - Deborah Ladner and the Asia Foundation Kat Haugh (https://www.katherinehaugh.com/) - visual facilitation, sensemaking, and notetaking Learning to Make All Voices Count Initiative - Summary (https://www.makingallvoicescount.org/supporting-local-learning-adaptation-understanding-effectiveness-adaptive-processes) and full paper (https://opendocs.ids.ac.uk/opendocs/bitstream/handle/20.500.12413/13351/MAVC_RR_Moses%20FINAL.pdf) Cynara training on Decolonizing M&E and Research (https://cynara.co/trainingstore/decolonize), led by Michelle Lokot (https://uk.linkedin.com/in/michellelokot) Contact information: Michael Moses [email protected] (mailto:[email protected]) LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-moses-a9bb9616/) About Michael Moses: Michael Moses is a strategist, facilitator, and evaluator with over 12 years of experience working with public and private sector partners to achieve social impact. He advises foundations, companies, governments, and nonprofits in their efforts to design and implement strategies for advancing change, including by capturing and using data to navigate the complex systems in which they work. In doing so, he helps changemakers learn how to improve programs and organizations, adapt, and over time, strengthen their impact.

In this episode, I chat with Dr. Tatiana Elisa Bustos on community-based participatory research (CBPR). We talked about what it is, how it compares to research and other similar forms of inquiry, and how to get started doing CBPR. Disclaimer: Views expressed here are personal and not reflective of the speaker's respective employers or agencies. Contact information Dr. Tatiana Elisa Bustos [email protected] (mailto:[email protected]) @TElisa72 (https://mobile.twitter.com/telisa72) https://www.linkedin.com/in/tebustos/ (https://www.linkedin.com/in/tebustos/) About Dr. Bustos Dr. Tatiana Elisa Bustos knows that community partner engagement is key to understanding social issues. She’ll share her experience applying community-based participatory research approaches. Dr. Bustos innovates outside the box ways to do research that invite community participation, improving programs through implementation with a social justice lens. As a 1st generation college student and the daughter of Nicaraguan immigrants, equity is deeply important to her. She is an author and award-winning researcher. She leads professional development workshops on implementation science and community based participatory research. She received her PhD in Community Psychology from Michigan State University, an MS in Psychology from Nova Southeastern University, and a BA in Psychology from Florida International University. Connect with her on LinkedIn. (https://www.linkedin.com/in/tebustos/) Dr. Bustos also appeared on The Sci-Files on Impact 89FM and Beyond the Manuscript, the podcast of Progress in Community Health Partnerships. Resources Professional Organizations * Society for Community Research and Action (http://scra27.org/) * American Evaluation Association Connect (http://comm.eval.org/search?executeSearch=true&SearchTerm=community+based+participatory+action+research&l=1) (CBPR search) * Community Psychology TIG (http://comm.eval.org/communitypsychology/home) Training Institutes * https://www.detroiturc.org/programs-expertise/cbpr-capacity-building (https://www.detroiturc.org/programs-expertise/cbpr-capacity-building) * https://www.detroiturc.org/about-cbpr/online-cbpr-course (https://www.detroiturc.org/about-cbpr/online-cbpr-course) * https://www.mitrainingcenter.org/courses/cbprs0218noce (https://www.mitrainingcenter.org/courses/cbprs0218noce) Toolkits * https://ctb.ku.edu/en/table-of-contents/evaluate/evaluation/intervention-research/main (https://ctb.ku.edu/en/table-of-contents/evaluate/evaluation/intervention-research/main) Journals * Global Journal of Community Psychology (https://www.gjcpp.org/) * American Journal of Community Psychology (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/15732770) * Collaborations: A Journal of Community Based Research and Practice (https://collaborations.miami.edu/)

In this episode, I provide a brief overview of the #Eval22 conference, describe the schedule at a glance, and provide tips for getting the most out of the conference. I hope to see you in New Orleans! Say hi to me at the conference to get an EvaluLand nametag ribbon. Eval22 Resources Register to attend the AEA Annual Business Meeting (https://www.evaluationconference.org/Programs/Annual-Business-Meeting) on November 3 at 2pm ET; a recording will be made available after the meeting. Register to attend TIG virtual meetings (https://www.evaluationconference.org/Programs/Topical-Interest-Groups) before and after the conference See the conference schedule at a glance (https://www.evaluationconference.org/Programs/Schedule-At-A-Glance) or the entire searchable program (https://evaluation.secure-platform.com/a/solicitations/2/sessiongallery/schedule?dayId=13&searchParams=%7B%22pageIndex%22%3A0,%22sortMode%22%3A%22SessionName%22,%22sortDirection%22%3A%22Ascending%22,%22sortByFieldId%22%3Anull,%22displayMode%22%3Anull,%22filterByFieldValues%22%3A%5B%5D,%22filterByTextValue%22%3Anull,%22filterByFavorites%22%3Afalse,%22filterByScheduleRoomIds%22%3A%5B%5D,%22filterBySessionTypeIds%22%3A%5B%5D,%22filterByScheduleDayIds%22%3A%5B%5D,%22filterByScheduleTimeSlotIds%22%3A%5B%5D,%22isScheduleOtherEventSearchAllowed%22%3Atrue%7D) Learn more about the professional development workshops (https://www.evaluationconference.org/Programs/Workshops) offered Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday prior to the conference Attend all the social events (https://www.evaluationconference.org/Programs/Social-Events) at the conference: poster exhibit & meet the authors reception, TIG fair & reception, and the silent auction to benefit international presenters Attend all the plenary sessions (https://www.evaluationconference.org/Programs/Plenary-Sessions) and presidential strand sessions (https://www.evaluationconference.org/Programs/Presidential-Strand) focused on the theme of the conference (https://www.evaluationconference.org/About/2022-Theme) and watch the virtual pre-conference presidential town hall series (https://www.evaluationconference.org/Programs/Virtual-Pre-Conference-Presidential-Series) that occurred in the months leading up to the conference Check out the resources for attendees (https://www.evaluationconference.org/Attendees/Attendee-Resources), including guide to New Orleans, Zoom background options, PowerPoint templates, marketing toolkit, and tips for social media Check out the speaker resources (https://www.evaluationconference.org/Speakers/Presenter-Resources), including information about rooms and materials, printing and shipping, and the potent presentations information (https://www.eval.org/Education-Programs/Potent-Presentations) Check out the floor plan for the Exhibit Hall (https://floorplan.dc.smithbucklin.com/fxfloorplan/22AEA/exfx.html#floorplan), including the exhibitors, posters, and TIG fair This LinkedIn post by Sylvia Pu, PhD has a ton of great comments about how to get the most out of the conference (https://www.linkedin.com/posts/sylviapu_aeaconference-aea-activity-6985348540688433152-ssj1?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop)

I talked with Dr. Tamara Hamai of Hamai Consulting about contracting, subcontracting, and independent consulting in evaluation. We discussed the minor differences between contracting and subcontracting, cleared up a common misconception of what subcontracting relationships are like, how to get into subcontracting, and tips for setting up contracts. Contact information: Tamara Hamai Hamai Consulting [email protected] https://sustainableimpact.co About Dr. Tamara Hamai: Tamara Hamai, Ph.D., has dedicated her career to empowering organizations and rebuilding our global systems to encourage children’s holistic growth and well-being, from prenatal through the completion of higher education – especially those who are most vulnerable and facing the greatest challenges. In 2008, she founded Hamai Consulting as a platform to help organizations increase their impact, stability, and strength to make a bigger impact in children’s lives. Dr. Hamai’s work spans most aspects of child development, such as early childhood education, higher education, child welfare, parenting and discipline, trauma, and adverse childhood experiences. She has previously been featured by KTLA, KPIX CBS San Francisco, ABC 7 News, NBC Radio, American Psychological Association, Western Psychological Association, Institute for Violence, Abuse, and Trauma, American Evaluation Association, National Head Start Association, and several blogs. She is also a reviewer and on the Editorial Board for publications such as the Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment & Trauma, Journal of Child & Adolescent Trauma, Journal of Sexual Abuse, and the Journal of Child Custody. Music by Matt Ingelson, http://www.mattingelsonmusic.com/

This episode I chatted with Carrie Tanasichuk and Harry Daley about how they have been using theories of change as their main process for facilitating strategic planning with non-profits. In the episode, they also mentioned: * The Community Foundation of Saint John’s impact measurement and evaluation principles (https://thecommunityfoundationsj.com/impact/) * The Community Builder’s Approach to Theory of Change (https://www.theoryofchange.org/pdf/TOC_fac_guide.pdf) * The Miles Nadal (https://www.mnjcc.org/) JCC Theory of Change (https://changeopenly.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/TOCsample-MNjcc_TheoryofChange.pdf) About Carrie and Harry: *Carrie Tanasichuk *(Twitter DrCarrieTee (https://twitter.com/DrCarrieTee) & [email protected] ([email protected])) has 16 years of experience in evaluation. She is passionate about using her expertise to help organizations demonstrate impact, improve, and innovate. She has worked across sectors (non-profit, for-profit, government) in diverse areas, including poverty reduction, youth development, criminal justice, health promotion and screening, and technology. She has a Ph.D. in Applied Social Psychology from the University of Saskatchewan. Harry Daley ([email protected] ([email protected])) was born and raised in Saint John, New Brunswick. He has dedicated his personal and professional life to working with organizations that focus on poverty reduction and amplifying the youth voice. He has used evaluation as a tool for designing experiential and participatory youth programming and believes evaluation is an integral aspect of program design and facilitation rather than something that lives outside the programs. Harry has a Bachelor of Philosophy in Interdisciplinary Leadership from the University of New Brunswick’s Renaissance College. Music by Matt Ingelson, http://www.mattingelsonmusic.com/

This episode I chatted with Bradlie Nabours about how he got into the field of evaluation and his experience applying for evaluation jobs. He also talks about his evaluation experience and provides great tips on applying for jobs in the evaluation space. Job search & application recommendations: Don’t give up. Know your worth. The job process is difficult, but don’t settle and remember it doesn’t reflect necessarily on you. Keep applying! Don’t limit yourself in what positions you look for. Expand your horizons. Network like your life depends on it! This includes having an online presence and building and leveraging connections with people in your field such as through LinkedIn, EvalYouth (LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/evalyouth-north-america/) & Twitter @evalyouth_na (https://twitter.com/evalyouth_na)), and your professors! Be a versatile applicant. Build your resume. Seek out learning opportunities to grow as a professional. Be willing to experiment and try new things. Contact information: Email: [email protected] ([email protected]) Twitter: bradn98 (https://twitter.com/bradn98) LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/bnabours About Bradlie Nabours: Bradlie is a perinatal health program evaluator at Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital in St.Petersburg, Fl. He works for a federal Healthy Start program focused on reducing adverse perinatal outcomes for black women and their families. He holds a Bachelors of Science in Public Health from Georgia Southern University and completed his Master’s in Public Health with a graduate certificate in Maternal and Child Health from the University of South Florida. He started his evaluation journey while in grad school where he worked as a graduate assistance on the evaluation of a non-profit family violence prevention program. While in grad school his research focused racial disparities in birth outcomes which led him to start his career at the intersection of his research interest and evaluation. Music by Matt Ingelson, http://www.mattingelsonmusic.com/

On this episode, I’m chatting with Dr. Tristi Nichols about her work conducting international evaluation and her journey into the international and evaluation spaces. Resources: Footprint evaluation (https://www.betterevaluation.org/en/footprint-evaluation-webinar) OECD DAC Criteria for Evaluation Framework (https://www.oecd.org/dac/evaluation/daccriteriaforevaluatingdevelopmentassistance.htm) List of websites to find international evaluation: * https://www.ungm.org/ type “evaluation” in the title bar [for UN only] * https://reliefweb.int/ or https://reliefweb.int/jobs * https://www.evalcommunity.com/ Contact information: Tristi Nichols [email protected] 914-414-8288 @tristiempo https://www.linkedin.com/in/drtristinichols/ Music by Matt Ingelson, http://www.mattingelsonmusic.com/