Developmental evaluation toolkit

This toolkit, developed by Spark Insight Partners (formerly Spark Policy Institute), offers a range of tools and resources to support not for profits and community organisations create social change through the use of developmental evaluation (DE).

The wide variety of tools includes tools to: structure the learning process; collect data to generate findings and tools based on a range of different DE methods. The toolbox also includes a number of case studies which demonstrate various aspects of the DE process.

Excerpt

"If you do nothing else as a developmental evaluator, at the very least, you are there to help ask evaluation questions, offer systematic data and observations and, ultimately, help your partners to foresee and manage potential problems and opportunities. Developmental evaluation can take you much deeper, helping to untangle issues that are already known but difficult for participants to manage, helping identify pathways to success, and helping resolve conflicts with new information.

To do any of these, you need to stay on top of the action, including building an understanding of the context, the strategy, the reason the work matters to the stakeholders, the barriers, and the opportunity. There are many ways to do this. Below are three examples that can be effective in many different settings."

Contents

  • Overview: Introducing DE Concepts
  • Introducing DE Practice
  • Tools: Staying on Top of the Action
  • Tools: Structure for the Learning Process
  • Tools: From Collecting Data to Generating Findings
  • Tools: Example Frameworks
  • Tools: Example Methods
  • Community Pages: Case Studies
  • Community Pages: Other Resources

Sources

Spark Policy Institute. (2014). Developmental Evaluation Toolkit. Retrieved from: https://sparkinsight.com/courses/developmental-evaluation-toolkit/