Phase 6: Evaluate Together



Before this stage in the community mobilization process, your team should have assisted the community in implementing its action plan. During this stage in the Community Action Cycle, you should evaluate the program with the core group.

STEP 1: Determine who wants to learn from the evaluation

In determining who wants to learn from the evaluation, you should consider the many stakeholders who have been involved or have a direct interest in the project. The core group should continue to be the primary participants in the evaluation process. Other interested parties should also be invited to participate.

STEP 2: Form a representative evaluation team

Creating a representative, effective and appropriate evaluation team requires careful consideration and negotiation with all parties concerned. When putting together a team, be sure to consider group dynamics, power relations, technical skills, credibility, diversity of strengths, weaknesses and perspectives. A mix of internal and external evaluation team members is preferred.

STEP 3: Determine what participants want to learn from the evaluation

People involved in an evaluation usually want to learn what was achieved and what was not achieved, how, why and at what cost. Ideally, each representative on the evaluation team will have a chance to meet with his or her respective group to discuss what the group wants to learn from the evaluation before the evaluation team develops a detailed plan, tools and methods.

STEP 4: Develop an evaluation plan

The plan maps out how the evaluation questions can be answered by identifying appropriate quantitative and qualitative methods, when the evaluation will take place, who will carry out the field work, the analysis, and the dissemination of lessons and recommendations, and what resources and materials will be needed to carry out the work.

STEP 5: Develop evaluation methods and instruments and train team members in their use

If you are repeating a baseline survey or other baseline assessment to compare pre- and post-project implementation status, you will probably want to use the same instruments and techniques that were used at baseline. Beyond repeating baseline assessments, most teams use evaluations to understand better what happened, what worked and did not work and why, the community's vision for the future and their capacity to work toward their vision.

STEP 6: Conduct the participatory evaluation

When the team has developed the plan and methods and instruments to collect information, it is time for the team to conduct the evaluation. The team leader should determine how she or he can best support the other members. If at all possible, the team should meet every day after fieldwork has been completed to identify problems or challenges, share and consolidate learning and make adjustments in the plan and information collection instruments if necessary.

STEP 7: Analyze the results

To begin the analysis, team members should review the information collected in the field. Analysis tables will help the team to organize the information so that data related to the same question coming from various sources can be compared and contrasted.

STEP 8: Provide feedback to the community

When the team has finished its analysis, it is important to present the results to the participating communities in a way that all can understand them. The feedback session is a chance to validate the results and to raise questions that the team and the community have about them. Simplify the results so that the major findings are covered. It is important to incorporate community participants' observations into the team's analysis of the results.

STEP 9: Document and share lessons learned and recommendations for the future

To make information accessible to a wider audience, determine what each of the stakeholders you identified wanted to learn from the evaluation and develop a summary of the results tailored to these groups' particular needs. Discuss with your team how you would like to contribute to the greater body of knowledge and experience aimed at improving health through community mobilization.

STEP 10: Prepare to reorganize

The purpose of most evaluations is not merely to determine whether your efforts have succeeded, but also to help guide future action. If the community believes that there is still work to be done on the same issue, participants can use the results of the evaluation to determine whether they need to reorganize (change the nature and structure of participation). If the community has made advances to the point that it is ready to take on a new health or other issue, it is time to return to the beginning of the Community Action Cycle.