Empowerment Evaluation

Tsholofelo Community Empowerment Evaluation Work

2011-09-16T14:01:00.000-07:00

Tsholofelo Community in SouthAfrica. The community is guided byBishop Kevin Dowling, Brother Joe, and Sister Georgina. The front of their building is posted above and to the left of this discussion.

Bishop Kevin Dowling, Dr. Ray Basson, and Sister Georgina on the Left

Brother Joe on the Right - Our Evening Chat about Politics

(Dr. Fetterman is taking the picture)

They are members of St. Joseph’sMission, part of the Diocese of Rustenburg. St. John Baptist de La Salle founded the Instituteof the Brothers, also called the Christian Brothers. Theyare engaged in educational, health, and employment outreach activities insquatter settlements primarily outside of Johannesburg. Professor Ray Basson, formerly from theUniversity of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, has been facilitating theirempowerment evaluation.

One part of their work is focusedin Freedom Park, in the heart of a squatter settlement.

Typical Home in a Squatter Settlement

Scope of Situation: 20,000 Homes in this Community Alone

Outside of Community Member's Home

Inside of Community Member's Home

(new born baby inside - life goes on)

They have helped to introduce a crècheor pre-school, a primary school, a primary health care clinic, and an HIV/AIDS outreachprogram, as well as other community supportservices. This work is, in part,supported by Impala Platinum (a platinum mining company in South Africa).

Freedom Park Sign

“Overthe past seven years, Bishop Kevin Dowling has developed his initial makeshiftclinic into a program that provides comprehensive treatment and counseling tohundreds of people a year. "He is the aids bishop," says Father JamesKeenan, a professor of theological ethics at Boston College, Massachusetts.

Bishop Dowling on Left

The clinics are effective in part because they rely on State licensed Traditional Healers in the community. They are culturally credible healthcare providers in the community and represent a pipeline for the communityclinic. In addition they areresponsive to the highly sensitive nature of an AIDS diagnosis in squattersettlements, which can result in isolation, ostracism, ridicule, and physicaldanger.

Traditional Healer with Certificate from the State

Margret Btlhaping is one of the liaisons between the local health care providers and the clinics.

Margret (clinic liaison), Anna Mawelena (Traditional Healer),

and David Fetterman

In addition they have aninternationally recognized hospice called Tapologo Aids Hospice.

Tapologo means "place of rest and peace". They provide systematic anti-retrovial therapy for HIVpatients.

It is a place where “terminally ill patients can bebrought to die in peace and dignity and others can be healed ofinfections.”

Nurse Sophie

Stuffed animal tree is in the background to remember each child

as they pass through the hospice as their final destination.

One of the Wards (beautiful mosaic floors)

Their work has alsobeen recognized for it holistic approach, reaching out to families as well as patients. They also address the growing number oforphans resulting from the AIDS epidemic.

Much of this work is funded by the US President’s emergencyplan for AIDS relief - PEPFAR.

Bishop Kevin was the firstAfrican bishop to call on the church to reconsider its ban on condom use. Hebelieves condoms are a useful tool to protect millions of people against aids. This position, although radical by RomanCatholic Church standards, is not completely unexpected, as the Lasalle Church promotesa “certainindependent distance from church authority.” In addition their theological position concerning the clergy contrasts with more traditional views. They are composed solely of lay brothers. Their philosophytoward clergy is summarized as: “Where every member is a minister.”

Chapel by the Hospice

Inside of Chapel

Tapestry in Chapel

Bishop KevinDowling, was recognized by Time Magazine as one of 37 Heroes "changing theworld for the better."

Their empowerment evaluation emphasizes,as Brother Joe says: “listening,listening, and then listening again. It may take years.” Theyare focused on identifying what the community thinks is important and workingwith them to assess and address those needs. (Contact Professor Ray Basson for more details.)

2011-09-16T12:03:00.000-07:00

3rd Biennial South African Monitoring and Evaluation Association Conference. Dr. David Fetterman, Fetterman & Associates and the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff (formerly from Stanford University), was one of the keynote speakers at the conference.

Dr. Florence Etta, President of the African Evaluation Association, concluded the conference with this picture of David presenting his keynote on empowerment evaluation. She added the heading: Our Empowerment Hero!

It was a powerful conference. It was clear that the time was right for this idea. The combination of a dissatisfaction with policy positions that were not sufficiently in touch with local concerns and the desire to find a way to give voice to local community members made this the opportune moment to share empowerment evaluation. It was a window of opportunity and they took it.

The room was packed, people were lined up outside the doors and into the halls. The audience was engaged. I could see their faces and it was like we were sitting in a small conference room talking, even though it was a keynote in an auditorium. There was a sense of closeness, almost family-like. I recognized so many folks. I had many of them in my workshop at the beginning of the conference. It just made it a warm, inviting, welcoming place to be. But more to the point, many people responded after the keynote that it was a like a light went on. They were sympathetic to the concept but hearing it in practice made it real, understandable, and usable.

Members of the Audience - Up Close and Personal

David, Anne Letsebe, and Ros Hirshowitz

Workshops

The group was great. They were completely engaged in the workshop. We highlighted the three steps in the approach: 1) mission; 2) taking stock; and 3) planning for the future. The questions were great, the participation was almost electric. Once again, the act of engaging in the process (like process use itself) brought people into the empowerment evaluation approach in ways they had not anticipated before. The overwhelming majority left with an idea about how they would apply the approach as soon as they returned home. They could see the relevance, the immediacy, and the usefulness of the approach. It was a very rewarding time working with everyone in the workshop.

Taking Stock Part I (prioritization)

Taking Stock Part II (ratings)

Dr. Fetterman highlighting ratings, using bar graphs.

Conference Concludes

Time to Say Good-bye

Dr. Ray Basson, SAMEA Board, Professor David Fetterman,
Professor Sibongile Muthwa, DVC (administration), and
Professor Fanie Cloete, University of Johannesburg

Candice Morket, SAMEA Chairperson, David Fetterman, Fetterman and Associates Associates,
Florence Etta (AfrEA), and Nan Wehipeihana, Kinnect Group New Zealand

But Work Remains

Dr. Fetterman signing the certificates for the

empowerment evaluation workshops at the end of the conference.

Helpful Software in an Empowerment Evaluation: DoView for Mac and DoView 3.0 released

2011-06-14T10:40:00.000-07:00

DoView for Mac and DoView 3.0 released

DoView is a new tool for quickly building visual outcomes models of what is happening in a program or organizations. DoView is being used by groups in 26 countries and in 43 US states. Outcomes models are logic models, theories of change, strategy maps and results roadmaps which show the high-level outcomes you are trying to achieve and all of the steps you are using to get to them.

DoView is a potentially powerful tool in Empowerment Evaluation because it has been specifically designed to be used when building visual models of programs in front of groups. This means that the group is much more likely to 'own' the model than if an evaluator goes away and draws the model themselves away from the group.

Once the outcomes models are drawn they can then be used for a range of different purposes, including building full visual evaluation plans. Such plans can be built in about 1/3 of the time it takes to build a traditional evaluation plan.

For more information on building a visual evaluation plan see: http://tinyurl.com/otheory267. Information on the integrated planning and evaluation approach developed by DoView's developer Dr Paul Duignan is available at http://ResultsRoadmap.com. DoView can be downloaded for 30 days free trial. In addition any international development programs which cannot afford DoView can apply for a no-cost license on the front page of the DoView website. http://www.doview.com.

UNICEF and Empowerment Evaluation Webinar

2011-04-20T10:56:00.000-07:00

Empowerment Evaluation Webinar Recording. UNICEF and a consortium of agencies, including IOCE, and DevInfo, invited Dr. David Fetterman to provide an empowerment evaluation webinar. It is based on a chapter he wrote for them in From Policies to Results. The webinar and the book are available for free in their virtual library.
Webinars

To view Dr. Fetterman’s empowerment evaluation webinar click here or go to:

http://www.mymande.org/?q=content/developing-capacities-country-monitoring-evaluation-system&x=cl

Additional webinar recordings are also available at this site, including the following speakers: Michael Quinn Patton, Hallie Preskill, Michael Bamberger, Alexey Kuzmin, and Craig Russon.

Abigail helping David set up for the Webinar

Abigail, Marco, and David using the videochat function as they prepared for the webinar

Books and Guides

They have a significant collection of materials, recordings, and documents - all for free - to help build evaluation capacity. To access their library go to the main site at: http://www.mymande.org and then select virtual library.

Monitoring and Evaluation Home Page

Empowerment Evaluation Chapter in this Collection

The webinars and collections are organized by Marco Segone, Senior Evaluation Specialist, Systemic Management, UNICEF Evaluation Office, and former Vice President and Senior advisor to the Executive Board, IOCE. A tutorial about their web site is available in the AEA virtual library - Wiki M&E.

Empowerment Evaluation at AERA 2011

2011-04-16T22:21:00.000-07:00

The American Educational Research Association (AERA) was held in New Orleans in 2011. Empowerment evaluation was represented throughout the program. Dr. David Fetterman conducted an empowerment evaluation workshop at one of the pre-session courses at the professional meetings.

Empowerment Evaluation Workshop

Dr. Fetterman & Workshop Participant from Singapore

Vice Presidential Presentation

On Saturday, Dr. Paul Favaro, Chief of Research and Evaluation, Peel District School Board, Ms. Malik Sumbal, Research Officer, Peel District School Board, and Dr. Fetterman, Fetterman & Associates and Professor of Education, University of Arkansas (formerly Stanford University), presented at the invited Vice Presidential Session.

Their session was titled, Empowerment Evaluation: Innovative Practices for the Public Good. Dr. Shahpar Modarresi, Supervisor, Program Evaluation, Montgomery County Public Schools, was the chair and introduced each of the speakers. Dr. Joe McCrary, Senior Research Associate, West Ed, served as the discussant. Dr. Favaro and Ms. Sumbal presented a captivating presentation about their work titled, An Empowerment Evaluation Approach - Malton Community, Mississauga, Canada. Their presentation included a brief video highlighting the engaging quality of the empowerment evaluation approach and the application of empowerment evaluation principles. They also highlighted personal, academic, and community outcomes. Dr. Fetterman discussed his $15 million Hewlett-Packard Digital Village empowerment evaluation. One of the outcomes highlighted during the presentation was the construction of one of the largest wireless systems in the country.

Shahpar, David, Paul, and Malik

Invited Speaker: Research on Evaluation SIG Business Meeting

Dr. David Fetterman was invited to speak about empowerment evaluation at the Research on Evaluation SIG Business Meeting. His presentation was titled, Empowerment Evaluation and Social Justice in Education. David highlighted his empowerment evaluation work in rural Arkansas focusing on tobacco prevention programs and academic distress schools. He also highlighted his empowerment evaluation work in the School of Medicine at Stanford University.

Dr. David Fetterman finishing the last questions

at the SIG presentation.

Webinars in March 2011: Collaborative, Participatory & Empowerment Evaluation

2011-02-24T16:36:00.000-08:00

MARCH MADNESS: A WEALTH OF WEBINARS AND BLOGS

Mark Your Calendars!

20 Minute WEBINARS

The Collaborative, Participatory, and Empowerment TIG is sponsoring a series of webinars. For three weeks in March, we’ll offer one webinar each on Collaborative, Participatory, and Empowerment Evaluation.

You need to be a member of AEA to participate in the webinars but anyone can receive the AEA 365 Daily Tips.

Each webinar will define one of the three types of CP&E evaluation, differentiate it from other types of evaluation, explain the underlying theory and how it translates into practice, include resources for learning more, and include time for questions at the end. The short series should be an excellent primer or refresher on CP&E evaluation. The webinar will consist of 10 minutes of presentation plus time for text-based questions and answers. Additional follow-up resources will be posted in the AEA virtual library.

1. Empowerment Evaluation will be the first in the series of webinars. It will be conducted on March 3^rd, 2011, from 2:00 PM - 2:20 PM EST

It will be facilitated by Professors David Fetterman, Fetterman & Associates and the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff (formerly Stanford University) and Abraham Wandersman, University of South Carolina, Columbia.

2. Participatory Evaluation will be the second webinar in the series. It will be conducted on March 10^th, 2011, from 2:00 PM - 2:20 PM EST.

The facilitators will be Drs. Ann Zukoski, Rainbow Research, Inc., and Mia Luluquisen, Alameda County Public Health Department.

3. Collaborative Evaluation is the final webinar in the series. It will be held on March 31^st, 2011, from 2:00 PM - 2:20 PM EST.

This webinar will be facilitated by Professors Rita Goldfarb O’Sullivan, University of North Carolina, and Liliana Rodríguez-Campos, University of South Florida.

CP&E TIG will also be sponsoring a series of AEA Daily 365 Tips or Blogs March 20-25, 2011.

The facilitators and their topic areas for the week are as follows:

Empowerment Evaluation

Linda Delaney on Performance Appraisals

José M. Díaz–Puente on the Empowerment Evaluator’s Role

David Fetterman on Empowerment Evaluation

Beverly Triana-Tremain on Relationship Building

Abraham Wandersman on Empowerment Evaluation & Accountability

Collaborative Evaluation

Liliana Rodriguez-Campos on Collaborative Evaluation

Participatory Evaluation

Lyn Shulha on Reinventing Your Identity as a Participatory Evaluator

In addition, in April, CP&E will be sponsoring a few more AEA 365 Daily Tips or Blogs. Be on the look out for:

Facilitators: Tobi Mae Lippin, Kristin Bradley-Bull and Tom McQuiston

Title: Involving stakeholders in data analysis and interpretation

Also be on the look out for postings by Wayne Miller on Empowerment Evaluation and Rita Goldfarb O’Sullivan on Collaborative Evaluation.

Webinars: You need to pre-register, must be an AEA member or purchase a webinar pass, and can register for any one or all three or find information for getting a pass at http://comm.eval.org/EVAL/coffee_break_webinars/Home/Default.aspx

Aea365 Daily Tips: You can review the archive and sign up to receive these via email (and you don’t need to be an AEA member!) at http://aea365.org/blog/

The CP&E Facebook is a success. Colleagues are posting on it and sharing information - social/academic networking in action.

Please post primarily about collaborative, participatory, and empowerment evaluation, but it is your professional Facebook page – so feel free to engage and use it to connect with our pretty large family of evaluators.

You can type Collaborative, Participatory, and Empowerment in the Search box on your Facebook or go to:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Collaborative-Participatory-and-Empowerment-Evaluation/111841242214686?v=wall

The co-administrators of our Facebook site are:

Dr. David Fetterman, Fetterman & Associates

and

Dr. Cindy Lyn Banyai, Refocus cindy.banyai@gmail.com

We have set up pages for pictures, discussions about proposals for next year’s meeting in California, and all sorts of social networking concerning evaluation. Enjoy!

I have listed a few additional CP&E web resources below:

CP&E Web Page: http://www.davidfetterman.com/empowermentevaluation.htm

Blog: http://eevaluation.blogspot.com

Collaborative Web Page (Google sites):http://sites.google.com/site/cpeevaluationcenter/

Facebook (go to Facebook and type in Collaborative, Participatory, and Empowerment Evaluation)

2010 October CP&E TIG Newsletter

AEA Resource

AEA365 A Tip a Day: http://www.aea365.org/blog/

2011 AEA Annual Meeting Information

Here is some information about next year’s calendar for your calendars:

Evaluation 2011

Proposal Deadline: March 18th
Meeting Week: November 2-5, 2011
Location: Anaheim, California
Headquarters Hotel: Hilton Anaheim

Check the AEA Home Page for Updates.

CONTACT INFORMATION

Contact Professors David Fetterman – fettermanassociates@gmail.com and Liliana Rodríguez-Campos - liliana@usf.edu - for additional information about the series. They are the co-chairs of the AEA Collaborative, Participatory, and Empowerment Evaluation TIG.

CP&E on Facebook

2011-02-22T11:08:00.000-08:00

Collaborative, Participatory, & Empowerment Evaluation is on Facebook. Drs. David Fetterman and Abraham Wandersman are captured on the American Evaluation Association's Facebook page. They were at one of the AEA socials sharing notes about family and work. It was a great meeting and AEA (and thus CP&E) are branching out into social networks.

In fact, the Collaborative, Participatory & Empowerment Evaluation topical interest group has their own Facebook page.

Take a look and join in with your thoughts, recommendations, tools, and reflections (and stay connected because that is the name of the game).

Empowerment Article: Top Three Most-Read AJE Articles

2010-12-07T13:24:00.000-08:00

Empowerment Evaluation: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow. This is the third most American Journal of Evaluation read-article in November 2010. The authors are: Drs. David Fetterman and Abraham Wandersman. This is testament to the sustainability of this article, since it was first published in 2007. At that time it was recognized as the most-read article of the journal.

The notation about its status can be found on Sage's online monthly update.

The article summarizes many of the arguments and responses revolving around empowerment evaluation. It has been widely cited as an excellent summary of empowerment evaluation issues, critiques, responses, resolutions, and plans for the future. This article "is designed to enhance conceptual clarity, provide greater methodological specificity, and highlight empowerment evaluation's commitment to accountability and producing outcomes." The full citation is:

Fetterman, D.M. and Wandersman, A. (2007). Empowerment evaluation: yesterday, today, and tomorrow. American Journal of Evaluation, 28(2):179-198.

For those interested another article that builds on this one and is a case example see:

Fetterman, D.M., Deitz, J., and Gesundheit, N. (2010). Empowerment evaluation: a collaborative approach to evaluating and transforming a medical school curriculum. Academic Medicine, 85(5):813-820. It is a case example of how empowerment evaluation was applied to the Stanford University School of Medicine.

GTO Getting to Outcomes - Translated into Japanese

2010-10-29T23:50:00.000-07:00

GTO: Getting to Outcomes. This popular empowerment evaluation publication is having an impact internationally. It has just been published in Japanese.

It is available on Amazon. Contact Professors Mitsuru Ikeda and Abraham Wandersman for additional details.

Canadian Empowerment Evaluation: Malton Community Project

2010-10-07T10:03:00.000-07:00

Empowerment Evaluation Community Project:

Understanding the Early Malton

The Understanding the Early Years Malton project is guided by empowerment evaluation principles. It is an excellent example of the empowerment evaluation model in practice. Their work has been transformative, contributing to collective learning, democratic participation, and action. They have collectively helped to reduce social inequities.

The Malton project produced a ten-minute DVD documentary demonstrating how a community can work together using an empowerment evaluation model to improve the future of its young children.

The UEY Malton Report to the Community presents the projects accomplishments, the data from the project, and the future aspirations of the project from the community perspective.

For additional information about the project contact Dr. Paul Favaro, Chief of Research & Evaluation, Peel District School Board & York University.

Empowerment Evaluation in Mexico

2010-09-28T11:40:00.000-07:00

Empowerment evaluation with members of the “Santa Ines” ejido in order to establish priority development projects for the community. Developed during July 2010, Texcoco, Estado de México.

Contact Professor Oscar Figueroa Rodriguez at: figueroa@colpos.mx for more information about the community project and evaluation.

Empowerment Evaluation in Stanford University's School of Medicine

2010-07-15T00:28:00.000-07:00

Empowerment Evaluation in Stanford University’s School of Medicine (Article in Academic Medicine)

An empowerment evaluation was conducted in Stanford University’s School of Medicine, focusing on the curriculum during an accreditation self-study. This study was notable because:

It was conducted in a premier tier 1 research institution
It was conducted in a medical school context
The findings were statistically significant

The findings were presented in Academic Medicine, a medical education journal, earlier this year. A graph of some of the findings is presented below:

The graph is a comparison of course ratings of “excellent” or “very good” at Stanford University School of Medicine before and after the empowerment evaluation intervention, and the percentage difference between the ratings from 2006-2007 and those from 2004-2005. Overall, the average student ratings for the required courses improved significantly (P=.04, Student’s t test). The courses are represented by letters to preserve anonymity.

This article also highlights tools of empowerment evaluation. The example provides additional insight into the application of this approach, including:

1. developing a culture of evidence
2. using a critical friend
3. encouraging a cycle of reflection and action
4. cultivating a community of learners
5. developing reflective practitioners

Overall, empowerment evaluation was found to provide an approach that is more in keeping with the evolving culture of medical education nationwide and offers valuable tools for building a better teaching experience for faculty and an enhanced learning environment for students.

Senior Author: Dr. Fetterman at the time of the curriculum change and the accreditation self-study, was the Director of Evaluation, Office of Medical Education in the School of Medicine at Stanford University. He is currently President and CEO of Fetterman and Associates, an international evaluation firm. He is also professor of education at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff (UAPB), Arkansas. UAPB is recognized as an Historically Black College and University (HBCU). Dr. Fetterman is also the Director of the Arkansas Evaluation Center (passed by the House and Senate and signed by the Governor in 2008).

This is the link to the Academic Medicine web page. The abstract is presented below:

Abstract

Medical schools continually evolve their curricula to keep students abreast of advances in basic, translational, and clinical sciences. To provide feedback to educators, critical evaluation of the effectiveness of these curricular changes is necessary. This article describes a method of curriculum evaluation, called “empowerment evaluation,” that is new to medical education. It mirrors the increasingly collaborative culture of medical education and offers tools to enhance the faculty's teaching experience and students' learning environments. Empowerment evaluation provides a method for gathering, analyzing, and sharing data about a program and its outcomes and encourages faculty, students, and support personnel to actively participate in system changes. It assumes that the more closely stakeholders are involved in reflecting on evaluation findings, the more likely they are to take ownership of the results and to guide curricular decision making and reform. The steps of empowerment evaluation include collecting evaluation data, designating a “critical friend” to communicate areas of potential improvement, establishing a culture of evidence, encouraging a cycle of reflection and action, cultivating a community of learners, and developing reflective educational practitioners. This article illustrates how stakeholders used the principles of empowerment evaluation to facilitate yearly cycles of improvement at the Stanford University School of Medicine, which implemented a major curriculum reform in 2003–2004. The use of empowerment evaluation concepts and tools fostered greater institutional self-reflection, led to an evidence-based model of decision making, and expanded opportunities for students, faculty, and support staff to work collaboratively to improve and refine the medical school's curriculum.

Contact Dr. Fetterman for additional information.

Empowerment Evaluator Hiring Manual

2010-05-30T20:25:00.000-07:00

Evaluation for Improvement. This manual is designed to help violence prevention organizations hire an empowerment evaluator who will assist them in building their evaluation capacity through a learn-by-doing process of evaluating their own strategies. It is for state and local leaders and staff members of organizations, coalitions, government agencies, and/or partnerships working to prevent violence. Some parts of the manual may also be useful to empowerment evaluators who work with these organizations.

The authors are: Pamela J. Cox, PhD, Dana Keener, PhD, Tiffanee L. Woodard, MFT, and Abraham H. Wandersman, PhD.

The is a publication of the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

It is available at: http://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/pub/evaluation_improvement.html

Dr. Wandersman Receives Award

2010-05-20T15:22:00.000-07:00

Award for Dr. Wandersman. The Health Foundation of Greater Cincinnati recognized Abraham Wandersman Ph.D 2010 Distinguished Evaluator for Advancing Reflection and Accountability in Evaluation.

Ann L. McCracken, PhD. (top left), is the Director of Evaluation at the Health Foundation of Greater Cincinnati. She made the award to Dr. Wandersman.

Dr. Wandersman conducted an evaluation workshop at the Foundation conference. The workshop focused on Getting to Outcomes® (GTO), an approach which has its roots in the behavioral health treatment and prevention communities. GTO empowers organizations to plan effective programs, implement them, and evaluate the programs to see how well they worked and to continuously improve them. GTO is a form of empowerment evaluation.

The workshop focused around real-world examples and participants had the opportunity to engage in hands-on exercises that drew upon their own experiences and organizational needs and contexts.

Dr. Abraham Wandersman, Ph.D., is the co-author of Getting to Outcomes: Promoting Accountability through Methods and Tools for Planning, Implementation, and Evaluation. He is also the co-editor of Empowerment Evaluation Principles in Practice. Dr. Wandersman is a faculty member in the Department of Psychology at the University of South Carolina in Columbia, South Carolina.

Dr. Wandersman's GTO Empowerment Evaluation Workshop in New Zealand

2010-05-05T14:06:00.000-07:00

Dr. Wandersman & Knowledge Institute Workshop Participants.

Dr. Wandersman conducted a GTO empowerment evaluation workshop at the Knowledge Institute in New Zealand. The title of the workshop was: The Getting To Outcomes® Approach

- demystifying evaluation and accountability

The workshop demystified evaluation and accountability and described how programs can actually increase the probability of achieving outcomes by using the Getting To Outcomes® approach.

Getting To Outcomes® (GTO®) is an approach designed to provide the guidance needed to build capacity, enhance evaluation skills, and facilitate the achievement and documentation of outcomes. GTO is a comprehensive approach that includes all of the following crucial elements for success: needs and resource assessment, goals and desired outcomes, evidence-informed best practices, fit and cultural competence, capacity, planning, implementation and process evaluation, outcome evaluation, continuous quality improvement, and sustainability. Since publication of the Getting to Outcomes manual in 2004, the approach has been by used by dozens of community organizations involved in statewide initiatives, by county departments of a state agency, in a national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention initiative, and in many efforts to prevent drug abuse, underage drinking, teen pregnancy, and child and family mental health services. GTO is beginning to be used in emergency preparedness, services for homeless people, child welfare, substance abuse treatment, and medical treatment. To date, the Getting To Outcomes manual has been downloaded more than 60,000 times from the RAND website (available free--http://www.rand.org/pubs/technical_reports/TR101/).

This Getting to Outcomes workshop focused on real-world examples and participants were given the opportunity to engage in hands-on exercises that draw upon their own experiences and organisational needs and contexts.
Specifically, participants learned about:

• The importance of evaluation in a results-based accountability context
• The empowerment evaluation principles that underpin the Getting to Outcomes® approach
• How to use and apply Getting to Outcomes® to plan, implement, and evaluate programs and policies

For more information about the workshop contact Dr. Wandersman.

For additional information about the Knowledge Institute contact Kate McKegg or visit the Institute's web page at: www.knowledgeinstitute.co.nz

AEA CP&E Evaluation Webpage, Blogs, and Webinar

2010-03-04T13:37:00.000-08:00

AEA Hosted CP&E Evaluation Web Presence.

Web page. We have a new AEA supported web page. It is designed to highlight AEA related news and updates. Select CP&E Evaluation to view it.

Most of our information and resources will be located at this blog and at our original web page (because it extends outside the AEA borders).

CP&E Evaluation Original Web Site

However, the CP&E Evaluation Web Page will supplement this effort and focus on AEA related matters, e.g. annual meeting, current blog activity, and so on.

Blogs. In addition, the Collaborative, Participatory and Empowerment Evaluation TIG hosted a week-long series of blogs. The topics ranged from participation to FlipVideo technology. The comments and dialogue were also useful and insightful. A few examples are provided below. Go directly to their blogs and participate in the dialogue or browse through the AEA Blogs.

Cassie Bowman's Blog - NASA's Mars Program

Linda Delaney's Tobacco Prevention Program

David Fetterman's Digital Picture,
Videoconferencing & Blogging Blog

Wayne Miller's Trusting Relationship Blog

Webinar. The CP&E Evaluation TIG also sponsored a Blogging Webinar. David Fetterman walked participants through the process from creating a blog to posting and editing it. There were 51 participants from the U.S., Canada, and Iran. The slides of the webinar are available here or in the AEA elibrary.

Blogging Webinar

The aim of these efforts is to extend our Collaborative, Participatory, and Empowerment Evaluation dialogue throughout the year - in addition to our annual meeting and scholarly journals.

Empowerment Evaluation in Spain 2010

2010-02-08T23:58:00.000-08:00

Empowerment Evaluation in Madrid. Dr. David Fetterman spoke about empowerment evaluation at three masters' programs in Madrid.

Máster Universitario en Planificación de Proyectos de Desarrollo Rural y Gestión Sostenible

Dr. José María Díaz Puente (far right in red in picture) invited Dr. David Fetterman to teach about empowerment evaluation in their master's program at the UNIVERSIDAD POLITÉCNICA DE MADRID. Their program is the UPM Master: Máster Universitario en Planificación de Proyectos de Desarrollo Rural y Gestión Sostenible. Dr. Fetterman focused on the steps and the principles of empowerment evaluation with case examples. He also taught about ethnography. The students were engaging, articulate, and appreciative. The students, faculty, and administrators were also extremely hospitable.

They are engaged in global projects that are aimed at local economies and helping communities become more economically sustainable.

Dr. Adolfo Cazorla is the co-author of Empowering communities through evaluation: some lessons from rural Spain with Dr. José María Díaz Puente and Ignacio de los Ríos Carmenado. Dr. Cazorla is also the director of the doctoral program.

Drs. Adolfo Cazorla (left) and David Fetterman (right)

Select their program web page for more information.
Contact the Director of the master's program, Dr. José María Díaz Puente, concerning admissions and program options.

Faculty: Drs. José María Díaz Puente (left) and Miguel Salvo (right)

Magister en Evaluación de Programas y Políticas Públicas, and is housed by the Centro de Estudios de Gestión in the Universidad Complutense de Madrid

Dr. María Bustelo also invited Dr. Fetterman to speak about empowerment evaluation at her evaluation program.

Dr. Bustelo, Dr. David Fetterman & Evaluators in Audience

She is the Directora del Máster en Evaluación de Programas y Políticas Públicas. The talk focused on evaluation today and tomorrow (from an empowerment perspective).

Contact Dr. Bustelo for more information about the program. You can also visit their program web site. The program is housed in the Magister en Evaluación de Programas y Políticas Públicas, and is housed by the Centro de Estudios de Gestión in the Universidad Complutense de Madrid.

Programa de Liderazgo para la Gestion Publica del IESE (Business School)

Dr. Fetterman also spoke about empowerment evaluation at the IESE School of Business in Madrid. It was part of an international evaluation symposium. La evaluación de Políticas Públicas. The evaluation seminar was organized by Dr. Antonio Nunez Martin in conjunction with Dr. José María Díaz Puente. Dr. Antonio Nunez Martin is the Director del Programa de Liderazgo para la Gestion Publica del IESE . Please contact him for more information about the Public Administration Programs.

Dr. Antonio Nunez Martin and Team in front of IESE

Dr. José María Díaz Puente (left)
Dr. David Fetterman (right)

The Big Debate at Claremont is Now an Article - JMDE

2010-02-06T01:09:00.001-08:00

Journal of MultiDisciplinary Evaluation. The big debate between Fetterman, Patton, and Scriven - about empowerment evaluation and utilization-focused evaluation - is now in print. It was announced on EVALTALK today:

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to announce the publication of Volume 6, Number 13 of the Journal of MultiDisciplinary Evaluation (JMDE). The current issue includes papers by Michael Scriven, Michael Patton, David Fetterman, Stewart Donaldson, Jane Davidson, and many, many others.

The Empowerment Evaluation Debate is available here. Similarly the slides to Dr. Fetterman's presentation are available here.

JMDE is a peer reviewed open-access journal (freely available) and can be viewed at http://www.jmde.com

Sincerely,
The JMDE Editorial Team

Managing Editor
Chris L. S. Coryn

Editors
Michael Scriven and E. Jane Davidson

EE & Tech Tools - AEA365 Blog (Fetterman Host)

2010-01-29T12:19:00.000-08:00

AEA is Posting a

365 Day-a-year Blog Concept

David Fetterman is hosting one right now concerning Empowerment Evaluation and Tech Tools to Foster Participation and Collaboration. He is focusing on free tools such as: videoconferencing, digital photography (file sharing), and blogging.

Feel free to join us. It is at:

http://aea365.org/blog/?p=90&cpage=1#comment-130

Right now we are talking about Skype (HD) and iChat.

There will be a live demonstration about blogging on March 4th (that David will be hosting as well). It is part of AEA’s Coffee Break Demonstration Series on March 4, 2010.

Click here to learn more and sign up: http://www.eval.org/demos.asp

GTO - AEA Newsletter Most Clicks

2010-01-29T12:09:00.000-08:00

GTO (Getting to Outcomes) is still in high demand, as evidenced by the number of clicks on AEA's Newsletter. This powerful 10-step empowerment evaluation tool continues to enjoy much AEA membership interest as a useful evaluation resource. The Getting to Outcomes (2008 Award Recipient) received one of the most clicks during the 2009 year, as reported in the AEA Newsletter below:

American Evaluation Association Newsletter, January 2010, Vol. 10, Issue 1

AEA 2009 Collaborative, Participatory & Empowerment Think Tank

2009-11-20T12:55:00.000-08:00

AEA Think Tank. We had an excellent Think Tank session this year. The participants were asked to write down the strengths and limitations of collaborative, participatory, and empowerment evaluation. They engaged in a dialogue about the topic and then reported back to the larger group.

The "expert" panel consisted of: of Drs. Shula, Rodriguez-Campos, O'Sullivan, and Fetterman commented on the participant's work and insights.

The group had a series of significant and thought provoking questions about the use of the approaches.

The group also generated a list of topics to stimulate our thinking about next year's sessions. A few of those topics are listed below:

Degree of participation
Time factor
Sharing what we know best
Organizational contextual factors
Empowerment of individuals vs. groups
How negotiate people's resistance
Generating buy-in

See our Collaborative Web Site for additional information about the session and the opportunity to create your own web pages on our collaborative web site. It is at:

https://sites.google.com/site/cpeevaluationcenter/Home

Here is the URL for more information about our work at the Think Tank at AEA 2009:

https://sites.google.com/site/cpeevaluationcenter/Home/discussion-board---next-annual-meeting

2009-09-29T11:38:00.000-07:00

Monitor on Psychology. AEA's 2008 Outstanding Publication Award Winner Professor Abraham Wandersman was featured in the September issue of the American Psychological Association's journal Monitor on Psychology.

The article focuses on Getting to Outcomes. It is a guide that helps users bridge the gap from designing programs to designing programs that achieve their intended results.

The original GTO TR (101) is one of the most downloadable documents at RAND. In the 5 years since TR101 was published (2004-2008), TR101 was the 10th most downloaded PDF in all of RAND, 6th of all RAND domestic populations, and 1st in Health..

The article is titled: Achieving Better Outcomes. This psychologist is helping groups get the results they want via a process that promotes program accountability, specifically empowerment evaluation.

Source: Newsletter, American Evaluation Association, September 2008, Vol. 9, Issue, 9.

2009-09-10T11:10:00.000-07:00

Empowerment Evaluation Debate: Drs. David Fetterman, Michael Patton, and Michael Scriven engaged in a lively debate about empowerment evaluation.

This was a powerful discussion about the promise and pitfalls of empowerment evaluation.

It was conducted face-to-face at Claremont Graduate University (see below).

In addition, it was broadcast throughout the world. Concurrently, he facilitated an empowerment evaluation workshop at Claremont. Here is a computer screen snapshot of Dr. Fetterman conducting the online version of his empowerment evaluation workshop.

The debate was intense, fast-moving, and civil (which was refreshing and productive). It was also recorded. You can view it by clicking here.

Dr. Fetterman also created a brief video as a tribute to empowerment evaluators working across the globe, from Australia to the United States. It is an iTunes slideshow or video. It can be downloaded by clicking here.

The slides he used as part of the introduction to the debate are also available here.

2009-05-15T14:22:00.000-07:00

Fetterman, Scriven, and Patton Debate: Empowerment Evaluation.

The 2009 Claremont Evaluation Debates

August 23 & 24, 2009

Claremont Graduate University

Major voices in the living history of Evaluation will go head-to-head on key issues to how the field is practiced today. Watch them online for free, or join us ringside in beautiful Claremont, California, this August during our Professional Development Workshop Series:

< http://www.cgu.edu/workshops >

Sunday, August 23, 12:00-1:30 pm (Pacific)
Michael Quinn Patton vs. Michael Scriven
Utilization-Focused Evaluation: Its Promise (Patton) and Pitfalls
(Scriven)

Monday, August 24, 12:00-1:30 pm (Pacific)

David Fetterman vs. Michael Scriven and Michael Quinn Patton

Empowerment Evaluation: Its Promise (Fetterman) and Pitfalls (Scriven &

Patton)

These debates are co-sponsored by The Southern California Evaluation Association (an AEA local affiliate) and Claremont Graduate University.

Space for the online event is limited, please visit <http://www.cgu.edu/pages/465.asp > or email Paul.Thomas@cgu.edu to reserve access to a free connection to the debate.

Space for the in-person event is limited, so register today for the debates. Registration includes a buffet luncheon for only $10 per person. Follow this link to save your place today:
< http://www.cgu.edu/pages/4729.asp >

Paul Thomas
Director of External Affairs
School of Behavioral and Organizational Sciences
Claremont Graduate University
(909) 607-9016

2009-05-15T11:34:00.000-07:00

2009 AEA Outstanding Publication Award: Getting to Outcomes

AEA announced that GTO has been downloaded 59,000 times from the Rand Corporation web site. According to David Fetterman, "The success of GTO is in part due to its simplicity. The impact of this publication has been well documented. And the influence is global in scope."

American Evaluation Association Newsletter, March 2009, Vol. 9, Issue 3

Congratulations - most accessed article online!

2009-03-12T15:00:00.000-07:00

Congratulations David and Abe!

The American Journal of Evaluation (AJE) remains a publication of choice for top authors to submit their writing...The top 10 most accessed AJE articles online:

Empowerment Evaluation: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow,
by D. Fetterman, A Wandersman, June 2007.

American Evaluation Association Newsletter, February, 2009, V 9, Issue 2

This is measure of empowerment evaluation's salience in the field.

AEA Award - Getting to Outcomes

2008-11-08T02:06:00.000-08:00

Getting to Outcomes received the AEA Publication Award in 2008. Congratulations to the team. Matt Chinman, accepted the award as the lead author and on behalf of the team. He was gracious, humble, and funny as he spoke to the membership - thanking them for the honor.

In the picture you see the authors: Pam Imm (left), Matthew Chinman, and Abe Wandersman (right).

We have a picture of the entire team below.

Congratulations on a job well done and recognized by the association. Getting to Outcome is an extraordinarily successful example of empowerment evaluation at its best. The satisfaction you can see in Abe's eyes provides an insight into the pride he feels concerning his former students' achievements.

A brief video of the award ceremony and the celebratory dinner is presented below:

Moein's Empowerment Evaluation Article

2008-07-08T22:06:00.000-07:00

Mohammad Hasan Mohaqua Moein, an evaluator from from Iran,

has posted a tribute piece about empowerment evaluation, in honor of the 1st Arkansas Evaluation Center workshop (July 10-11th, 2008). The piece criticizes narrow definitions of evaluation, in favor of a more multi-cultural and pluralistic view of evaluation. The brief discussion is presented on his web site which can be accessed by double clicking on the image below.
Please feel free to contact him if you have any questions or comments.

Japan 2008

2008-07-04T23:07:00.000-07:00

Empowerment Evaluation in Japan. Dr. Abraham Wandersman was invited to speak about empowerment evaluation in Japan by Dr. Kusago Takayoshi. His talk was titled: "Bridging the Gap Between Science and Practice."

He focused on his Getting to Outcomes work in this area, including iGTO (web-based version of this method).

A picture of Abe is presented below at the Global Collaborative Center at Osaka University. He is front and center (with the tie). His hosts are at the far left (Momo Waguri- former student of Dr. Fetterman at Stanford University) and far right (Dr. Kusago Takayoshi) of the picture.

Empowerment Evaluation in Puerto Rico 2008

2008-05-31T23:07:00.000-07:00

Empowerment Evaluation in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Drs. Maria Medina, Professor, Graduate Studies Deparment, School of Education, and Annette Lopez de Mendez, Director of the Educational Research Center, invited Dr. Fetterman to speak and facilitate an empowerment evaluation professional development workshop at the University of Puerto Rico (May 2008).

They took Dr. Fetterman and his family out for dinner the night before displaying friendship and hospitality. It was a warm welcome and introduction to many issues currently facing Puerto Rico. (Double click on the picture at the top left of the screen for a brief video of the workshop.)

David Fetterman and
Maria Medina

Annette Lopez de Mendez and her husband
(photographer) Hector Mendez Caratini

The day began with an overview about the steps of empowerment evaluation.

Dr. Fetterman presented the plenary talk and facilitated the workshop during the afternoon.

The workshop focused on views concerning the health care system in Puerto Rico. Participants quickly modeled "process use" by jumping in, ranging from activities such as drafting a mission statement to actually collecting the data and entering it into a spreadsheet; (and then displaying it using an LCD projector).

The taking stock step, using dots and 1 (low) to 10 (high) ratings, helped launch the dialogue and discussion.

Critical points were made during the day that unearthed concerns about the current health care system and a pride in the former health care system. This helped the group develop plans for the future.

It was an engrossing session and frank exchange about health care issues. It also highlighted both the mechanics and philosophy associated with the pursuit of empowerment evaluations.

Education Review Office - Christchurch, New Zealand

2007-07-12T06:14:00.001-07:00

Education Review Office (ERO). ERO in Christchurch, New Zealand applied empowerment evaluation to their own activities in a workshop held July 12, 2007.

ERO provides independent external evaluation of how well each school or early childhood service is contributing to the learning and achievement of children and young people.

Their reviews and reports focus on the quality of education provided in school and early childhood services.

In the spirit of refining and improving their own work, ERO invited Dr. Fetterman to facilitate an empowerment evaluation workshop.

ERO staff applied the approach and produced productive insights into their own operations and the workshop stimulated ideas for future applications, ranging from professional development to work with the schools. Contact ERO for additional information at www.ero.govt.nz

Iran/Tehran - National Research Project

2007-06-25T14:48:00.000-07:00

Iran/Tehran. Mohamad Hasan Mohaqeqmoein has conducted extensive empowerment evaluation work in Iran. According to Moein, "Arzehyaby tavanmand saz" is the synonym of "empowerment evaluation" in Farsi.

He is an instructor in a higher vocational education center in Tehran. He is working on a national research project focused on the "evaluation and effectiveness of courses in higher vocational education" in Iran.

Moein's has conducted additional work on the national level, including efforts centered around the primary school evaluation reform project.

Moein worked with about 25 government and non government organizations for about two years, preparing a national plan named "community based empowerment for extended empowerment activity in Iran". This plan consisted of a framework for planning, executing, monitoring & evaluating empowerment programs.

He translated Empowerment Evaluation literature in a Persian book in 2004 and conducted empowerment evaluation workshops in Iran, including one in Sannandaj (a Kurdish city west of Iran).

In one workshop, Moein prepared a training compact disc of Empowerment Evaluation methods and activities. He prepared a training compact disc. The CD is about 400 MBs of information, with text, voice, film and pictures. The name of the training disc in Farsi is ARZESH.

In the Sannandaj workshop they presented a new electronic tools for training monitoring, named PAYESH in Farsi. After every two sessions of workshop training the participants complete an electronic form that has five questions with five or four Likert scale questions about their work.

For more information about his empowerment evaluation work, see this web log from Thursday, February 27, 2003 at this weblog http://arzeshyabytanmandsaz.blogspot.com .

For additional information see his web logs:

http://arzeshyabytosify.blogspot.com and: http://empowermentevaluation.blogspot.com.

His Farsi language web log is at:

http://evaluation.persianblog.com.

Mobile Storytelling in San Francisco

2007-06-13T20:38:00.001-07:00

Empowerment Evaluation and Mobile Storytelling. John Kuner is a Digital Vision Fellow at Stanford University.

He is using or I should say students he is working with are using empowerment evaluation and mobile storytelling while prototyping a new project. The students used these tools to communicate how they would measure cross-cultural impact.

See their Mobile Storytelling Blog for more information.

Guerrero - Mexico - Empowerment Evaluation

2007-06-08T23:00:00.000-07:00

Guerrero - Mexico. Professor Oscar Figueroa, Colegio de Postgraduados, Campus Montecillo, is working in the southern state of Guerrero. He is facilitating an empowerment evaluation with marginalized indigenous communities. He has posted a few photographs of community members engaged in the empowerment evaluation process.

Dr. Fetterman, Stanford University, is a Collaborating Professor at the Colegio de Postgraduados, working with Dr. Figueroa.

Interview with Dr. David Fetterman about Empowerment Evaluation

2006-12-17T18:27:00.000-08:00

Ms. Erin Peacock, a student from the University of Arizona, interviewed Dr. David Fetterman about Empowerment Evaluation. Dr. Fetterman provides an insight into his background and training as it relates to the development of empowerment evaluation. (Click on the video to see the interview.)

2006-11-16T13:18:00.000-08:00

The Stanford University Medical Education Research Group presented at the American Evaluation Association in Portland, November 2006. The symposium was titled: Empowerment Evaluation in the School of Medicine at Stanford University. Panel members included: Ms. Arnall, Ms. Berry, Dr. Fetterman, Mr. Grant, Ms. Hooper, and Dr. Nevins. A brief video of the presentation is presented on the left side of this message (click on the image). Please contact Dr. Fetterman if you have an questions or would like more information about the presentations.

Collaborative, Participatory, & Empowerment Evaluation

2006-07-06T17:42:00.000-07:00

American Evaluation Association Annual Meeting

The Collaborative, Participatory, and Empowerment Evaluation Topical Interest Group is well represented on the AEA annual program. A few highlights include:

You Got Skills: Applying Empowerment Evaluation Techniques to Enhance Community Program and Funding Agency Partnerships

Engaging Youth in Participatory Evaluation

Creating Capacity for Evaluation with Communities of Color

Empowerment Evaluation: Building Tobacco Prevention Evaluation Capacity in Arkansas

Empowerment Evaluation in the School of Medicine at Stanford University

Applying Principles of Empowerment Evaluation to Improve Health and Build Community: Demonstrating Effectiveness from Planning to Results

In addition, please feel free to attend our CP&E TIG Business meeting: Thur Nov 2, 5 to 6, Broadway IV. We discuss current issues and plan for the future at these meetings.

Additional useful links include:

Conference Program

Travel

Looking forward to seeing you there.

-David

Collaborative, Participatory, & Empowerment Evaluation

2006-06-05T16:39:00.000-07:00

Free Place on the Web to Store Our Documents

This web page is a place for us to upload our documents and share them with each other. The URL is: http://www.mytempdir.com

The server will keep your file for 21 days after it is uploaded.

The file size must be less than 50 Mb in size.

I have posted one of my articles from the Harvard Evaluation Exchange in this folder for you to test. Here is the URL to pull it down:

http://www.mytempdir.com/718455

Enjoy and see you at the meetings.

- David

Collaborative, Participatory & Empowerment Blog

2006-05-31T13:59:00.000-07:00

Collaborative Writing Software

This is the new collaborative software I mentioned in one of our small group meetings. Abe and I are using this to draft a response to some of the presentations made at AEA last year. The collaborative software can be found (for free) at:

http://www.writely.com

It allows us to collaboratively write papers and track our changes. As I say, some of our empowerment team members are already signed up to use it.

You can join the waiting list by going to their site. Once you are on you can make your colleagues instant users by inviting them to collaborate on a specific document. Take care.

- David

Empowerment Evaluation

2006-05-26T18:14:00.000-07:00

Empowerment Evaluation
I am David Fetterman. Welcome to the empowerment evaluation blog. Abe Wandersman and I are working on a response to some of the papers presented at the last AEA meeting - particularly the one focusing on "empowerment evaluation 10 years later: where are we?"

As we prepare this response we want to hear from you. Many empowerment evaluations are not published in the literature (even though there may be an evaluation report - which is true of the evaluation field in general). Some of our colleagues only refer to journal articles when discussing what's going on in the field (which we understand but think is misleading and not reflective of the field of practice).

In this spirit, if you have conducted an empowerment evaluation between 1993 and the present, please take a few moments to say something about it, e.g. the name and type of project, how much participants were involved in conducting the evaluation, if it involved a socratic exchange or back and forth dialogue about findings, how successful it was (any outcomes etc.).

Our piece has to be in by June 15th - so any comments, descriptions, or ideas are welcome.

Many thanks.

- David