Stories of change from refugees and people living with disabilities that changed programming

Abstract Information: Between 2019 and 2023, InsightShare and Opportunity International UK (OI) came together to incorporate Participatory storytelling into the internal MEL strategy of OI. The programmatic team wanted to better listen and understand lived experiences and outcomes of financial inclusion programmes, particularly supporting people living with disabilities and their carers, as well as refugees and host communities in Uganda. After training the international and local staff, as well as community members with an active role in the programmes, local evaluation teams used Participatory Video combined with Most Significant Change (PV MSC) to support participatory storytelling in baseline and mid-term review (for the refugee programme) and in mid-term review and endline (for the programme targeting people living with disabilities). Here you can find their stories: RISE (Refugee programme): Baseline: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLr4Zjc7sz5uXJPRMEHEQUPEwqgus9u0UZ Mid-term review: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLr4Zjc7sz5uWxBu9kLe2zI9Ju_BEC0SjO Financial Inclusion for People Living with Disabilities: Mid-term review: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLr4Zjc7sz5uW5VJ8nsESkY0oopDOjuI4u Endline: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLr4Zjc7sz5uWegMI15jGQpnIYqZyWV-ZQ InsightShare and Opportunity International UK used Participatory Video to complement and enhance other data collection methods Opportunity International UK and partners were using for their M&E systems. Participatory Video gathers qualitative data that often escapes traditional monitoring and evaluation tools. This paper will share the key learning that came out of the processes and how it influenced programming.

Relevance Statement: The process of monitoring and evaluating generally serves two main purposes: to improve the delivery and impact of programmes, and to promote accountability by learning from past successes and mistakes. Participatory monitoring and evaluation recognises that to obtain information and learning that truly reflects programme impact, the people who have had first-hand experiences of the programme must play a central role in the process, define their own measures of success, and assess whether a programme responds appropriately to the real life aspirations of the community. Consequently, using participatory methodologies can promote a positive cycle of sharing, learning, reflecting, and transforming. “Participatory monitoring and evaluation involves the assessment of change through processes that involve many people or groups, each of whom is affecting or affected by the impacts being assessed. Negotiation leads to agreement on how progress should be measured and the findings acted upon. It is a challenging process for all concerned, as different stakeholders must examine their assumptions about what constitutes progress - and together deal with the contradictions and conflicts that emerge.” (Guijit, 1999). Participatory Video (PV) is a set of techniques to involve a group or community in shaping and creating their own film. The idea behind this is that making a video is easy and accessible, and is a great way of bringing people together to explore issues, voice concerns or simply to be creative and tell stories. The process can be very empowering, enabling a group or community to take action to solve their own problems and also to communicate their needs and ideas to decision-makers and/ or other groups and communities. As such, PV can be a highly effective tool to engage and mobilise people - helping them implement their own forms of sustainable development based on local needs. It is not always easy to gauge and communicate what a programme or activity has meant to the lives of those it was meant to reach. Those best placed to explore and convey these messages are the project participants themselves, who can speak first-hand about it. They can select relevant individuals to interview in their communities and decide how to self-represent themselves. As footage is collected through time and various spaces, all actors can reflect back in the community through screenings, where stakeholders are brought together to reflect and discuss. InsightShare's methods help communities tell their stories and communicate their perspectives in an accessible, compelling and versatile format through a participatory and authentic process. Following stringent informed consent procedures, these stories can then be used to communicate lessons or new ideas across to new groups, other organisations or decision makers. Guijt, I. (1999) Participatory monitoring and evaluation for natural resource management and research. Socio-economic Methodologies for Natural Resources Research. Chatham, UK: Natural Resources Institute.