Participatory video and the most significant change. A guide for facilitators

The toolkit is designed to support you in planning and carrying out evaluations using participatory video (PV) with the most significant change (MSC) technique, or PVMSC for short.

This is a participatory approach to monitoring, evaluation and learning that amplifies the voices of participants and helps organisations to better understand and improve their programmes.

This resource and the following information was contributed to BetterEvaluation by Soledad Muñiz, InsightShare.

Authors and their affiliation

Sara Asadullah and Soledad Muñiz, InsightShare.

Key features

The toolkit is designed to support you in planning and carrying out monitoring and evaluation using Participatory Video (PV) with the Most Significant Change (MSC) technique, or PVMSC for short. This is a participatory approach to monitoring, evaluation and learning that amplifies the voices of participants and helps organisations to better understand and improve their programmes.

The use of MSC as a technique for evaluation is carefully and thoroughly explored by Rick Davies and Jess Dart, in their MSC Guide, and we recommend that anyone wanting to practice PVMSC should read and learn from this excellent manual. Similarly, InsightShare has produced a great deal of material on the practice of participatory video. We encourage you to read, watch and learn from these other sources to find additional information that is important to know about but not included in this document (although we have placed references throughout to help the reader find relevant resources).

What we present here is a synthesis of the two techniques, focussing on the practical application of the tool. The toolkit aims to be lightweight and user-friendly. We provide references to articles and publications where we have discussed the theory and practice of using PV for monitoring and evaluation in more detail as well as the practical application of the tool.

How have you used or intend on using this resource?

We have been asked on numerous occasions to provide guidance on using PV for monitoring and evaluation and it was time for us to gather our experiences and record the methodology. Over the years of using PVMSC we have seen that it can create an invaluable space for organisations to learn through a cycle of reflection and reshaping of programmes in line with participants’ values. This is why, in the International Year of Evaluation, InsightShare launches the PVMSC toolkit to help spread the method.

The toolkit includes a section for commissioners and managers to be able to understand the method and decide if it's the best one to include in their M&E strategy (Section 1). It also includes case studies that explain in detail the several stages of the method with real life experience with diverse UN bodies, INGO's and other institutions. Finally, it includes a section for evaluators and facilitators (section 2) with tips on how to carry out the activities in the field.

Why would you recommend it to other people?

This resource will help you understand PV MSC, its value added and characteristics. It will also guide you with concrete examples that can help you assess when to use it and include it in your mixed methods M&E strategy.

I have personally been engaged in the delivery of many of the evaluations using PV MSC and witnessed its power to create downward accountability, improve organisational learning, as well as engage beneficiaries in a meaningful experience to evaluate the programmes that intend to improve their lives.

Sources

Asadullah, S. & Muniz, S. (2015). Participatory Video and the Most Significant Change. A guide for facilitators. Retrieved from https://www.insightshare.org/resources/pv-and-msc-guide 

'Participatory video and the most significant change. A guide for facilitators' is referenced in: