Collaborative, Participatory & Empowerment Evaluation
Anita Chandra, Dr.P.H.
Vice President and Director, RAND Social and Economic Well-Being
RAND Corporation, United States
Ari Elliot, PhD (he/him/his)
Learning & Evaluation Officer
Greater Rochester Health Foundation, New York, United States
.jpg "Toyin Anderson (she/her/hers) photo")
Toyin Anderson (she/her/hers)
Parent leader and board member
The Children's Agenda, United States
Jennifer Ames (she/her/hers)
Intergration Counselor
Easthouse Corporation
Rochester, New York, United States
Location: Grand Ballroom 9
Abstract Information: The evaluation process is too often left out of the very story of change it helps to tell. This panel will present the early evaluation story of Healthy and Equitable Futures (HEF), an initiative to achieve racial equity in health and well-being for Black and Latinx children, ages 0-8, in the Greater Rochester area. Against a history of entrenched racial inequity and marginalization in legacy systems in Rochester, parents are writing a new story of leadership within organizations and systems impacting their children and communities. Positioning parents as lead authors of the HEF initiative has catalyzed not only the strategic work but the design of the evaluation itself, reshaping what questions are asked, who asks the questions, and how the story is told. Panelists will share how the evaluation has evolved to center parent leader voice. Discussion will also address methodological considerations around assessing movement toward racial equity and family leadership within organizations and systems. In addition to looking at how change becomes institutionalized in policy and practice, the panel will explore the role of narrative and mindset shift within the evaluation of systems change. In keeping with co-creation of the HEF evaluation process, the panel will feature multiple stakeholder perspectives. The HEF evaluator will share their experience navigating the complexities of equity-centered, community-partnered work, and the funder on how equity is shifting views of the essential purpose and content of evaluation from those who commission it. An HEF parent leader will share their lived experience around creating equitable partnership with community in evaluation, identifying implications for how evaluators can shift their own practice as well as build broader capacity within the organizations they engage. Collectively, the discussion will touch on themes including power, voice, and accountability as they play out in evaluation.
Relevance Statement: This panel will surface early findings and learnings from a multi-year strategy evaluation, organized around two main strands key to evaluation practice—equity as outcome and equity as process. It will share methodological insights around assessing shifts toward “equity-centeredness” in organizations and systems. The HEF evaluation is rooted in systems change theory, involving shifts and transformations occurring at multiple levels, including the policies, practices, and mindsets that underlie the current design and functioning of a system (Catalyst2030 What is System Change?). Specifically, HEF is working toward transformation of child- and family systems that have historically marginalized Black and Latino families. As such, the evaluation places particular emphasis on organizational shifts toward institutionalizing racial equity and community partnership (in this case with parent leaders) in decision-making, not only in nonprofits delivering programs and services, but in the design of the HEF initiative as well. Further, leveraging experience from the HEF evaluation as well as RAND’s work on the Culture of Health initiative, the panel will delve into the examination of equity-related narratives and mindset shifts, helping to bridge practices in strategy and systems evaluation with the role of story. Second and crucially, the panel will explore equity in process, examining how family and community leadership can be centered in all parts of evaluation design and execution. In his Evaluation 2022 Presidential Address, Edgar Villaneuva challenged the field to bring new actors and voices into the practice of evaluation, asking “who has the microphone?” In that spirit, as well as the imperative “Nothing about us without us,” this panel will feature the voice of a parent leader engaged in evaluation data collection and decision-making. A fundamental learning from the HEF evaluation is that while individual knowledge around equity in evaluation is vital, equity-centered practice is heavily co-created in real time and within local programmatic and community contexts. As such, orientations of adaptability and responsiveness, navigation of power and positionality, and framing of findings are crucial. Building field capacity around these key mindsets and skills requires honest sharing of successes, mistakes, and learnings in the evaluation process from multiple stakeholders, i.e., telling the story of evaluation itself.
Presenter: Carolyn Lee-Davis, n/a – National Parent Leadership Institute Inc.
Presenter: Anita Chandra, Dr.P.H. – RAND Corporation
Presenter: Ari Elliot, PhD (he/him/his) – Greater Rochester Health Foundation
Presenter: Toyin Anderson (she/her/hers) – The Children's Agenda