Organizational Learning & Evaluation Capacity Building
Irene Guijt, PhD
Head of Evidence and Strategic Learning
Oxfam Great Britain, England, United Kingdom
Katrina Barnes, n/a
Evidence Uptake and Learning Lead
Oxfam Great Britain, United States
Chipo Peggah, n/a
Head of Adaptive Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning
Oxfam Great Britain, United States
Location: White River Ballroom B
Abstract Information: Traditional measures of success for international non-governmental organizations (INGOs) have been based on western theories of change, use of predefined metrics and ways of knowing – rarely fitting local realities and interests. These projectise pre-determined change, limit honest reflection on larger transformative change, and inhibit meaningful learning and adaptation.
INGOs globally are being challenged to decolonise their knowledge and evaluation processes. Over the past 12 months, Oxfam Great Britain has undergone a journey to redesign how we understand impact, to rebalance and reframe accountability and how we learn. Our new approach focuses on collective storytelling, sensemaking and regular reflection on our practice. We are taking a theory-led approach to make meaning out of signals that systems are shifting across a portfolio of work. Drawing on a bricolage of various evaluation methodologies (Outcome Harvesting-lite, meta-evaluation and synthesis, evaluative rubrics, and impact evaluations) we are slowly building a picture up over time across the organisation, to tell a story of systemic change. We have seen how meaningful and honest evidence and learning processes, have enabled a stronger culture of learning.
Although we are far from the end of this journey, we have learnt some critical lessons and face ongoing challenges. We are not the only ones, many foundations, funders, and philanthropic organisations are going through similar processes.
At this roundtable discussion, we will start the discussion by sharing Oxfam Great Britain's journey with key challenges faced and lessons learnt. After this, we will invite a conversation to harvest insights from others also seeking to reimagine organisational learning that is grounded in decolonising our knowledge processes and seeking to understand systems change.
Relevance Statement: Organisational learning about systems change is a hot topic[1],, as international NGOs, UN agencies and foundations increasingly try to understand how they contribute to systems change. These conversations are imperative to the field of evaluation, as organisations navigate new ways to ‘evaluate’ their work. Collective inquiry into how organisations are redeveloping their approaches, addressing critical methodological and attitudinal challenges and experimenting with approaches helps advance our understanding of evaluation for systems change and strategic learning.
Currently many organisations that have spoken publicly about their new learning frameworks are funding or philanthropy organisations, with direct control over grantees. The challenge is slightly different for an INGO. Recent commitments to decolonise knowledge and M&E have presented us with new challenges – that of having fewer clear boundaries, little direct control of activities and partners or data collection, while desiring deeper strategic learning and more honest accountability. Oxfam Great Britain’s journey in balancing these needs provides one perspective about assessing systems change. Through trial and error, we have collected significant lessons and helpful practices that might serve others looking at redesigning their evaluation systems. We have questions that we want to explore with other organizations also pivoting towards evaluative practices and learning frameworks that centre systems change and shifting power.
Methodologically, this roundtable will also discuss how a bricolage of methods in which stories play a critical role serves organizational learning. In implementing Oxfam Great Britain’s learning and accountability framework, we are combining an outcome harvesting ‘lite’ approach and SenseMaker as part of regular reflections, evaluation rubrics to help make sensemaking transparent, and external validation of quality of evidence. Impact evaluations are drawn on as case studies to provide a deep dive understanding and compliment the portfolio-based learning. An intentional approach to uptake and engagement has also generated processes of rhythms and spaces – identifying where decisions are made (at all levels) and what information is required to inform them – rather than starting with KPIs.
This roundtable aligns strongly with the theme of the ‘power of story’. By experimenting with approaches that centre the lens of those we work with, and centres what is meaningful change for them, for partners and colleagues working in many countries around the world, we are acknowledging the power that stories can have in helping us see the whole. By opening up evaluative practices to collective sensemaking we are encouraging an evidence base in the form of a collective narrative. We also share how we are weaving rigour into the story based evaluative practice. Our experience at OGB speaks directly to evidence use, how we are navigating complicated organisational structures, power and expectations to engage people in building that narrative, translating insights to the right people in the ways that make sense to them.