True Roots provided monitoring and evaluation (M&E) services for a Rotary global grant, “A Stronger Mexico: Pillars of Positive Peace:” a two-day training on the Institute for Economics and Peace’s Pillars of Positive Peace.
True Roots was involved with the evaluation of this project from the very beginning, communicating with the organizers of the training throughout the planning process. This meant that evaluation was an important component of the project from the get-go.
The goal of the workshop was to strengthen youth Positive Peace leadership in Mexico via more than 300 national youth leaders attending.
True Roots set the intended outcomes of the training collaboratively with its organizers. Our intention in doing so with clients is to mutually benefit from each other’s perspectives during the planning process. We engaged in discussions and raised questions like:
What are we hoping to achieve here?
What do we want the impact of the project to look like?
What “ripple effects” might result from the project?
How can we measure all of this?
True Roots built our M&E plan around the intended outcomes that were agreed upon from these discussions, and considered also the potential implications (ripple effects) of those objectives being achieved.
Throughout the evaluation process, we used a multifaceted approach to data collection – including various rounds of baseline and follow-up surveys and a focus group – to gather the most meaningful data possible.
We did so because we recognize that each participant operates in a unique context. Each of the young leaders that attended has their own set of goals, challenges, and successes in their projects.
While True Roots aims to develop impact indicators and survey questions that will be the most relevant to all participants, we believe it is important to provide an opportunity for participants to explain, in their own words, what the impact of a project looked like for them. In this case, training participants had the chance to tell us about the practical, measurable ways that they are applying what they learned to promote Positive Peace within their spheres – and beyond. True Roots converted this feedback into “impact stories.”
Our goal at True Roots is to provide a product that is meaningful and helpful for our clients. While one of our aims is to demonstrate the impact of a project, we also want to equip clients to learn from the evaluation process and final product. We see an effective evaluation process as one that is collaborative, practical, and constructive.
True Roots was delighted to be able to work through this process in our monitoring and evaluation work on the Positive Peace training, and looks forward to managing impact evaluation, monitoring and assessment for future editions.