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Session Title: Using Empowerment Evaluation to Build the Prevention and Evaluation Capacity of Federally-funded Programs
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Panel Session 315 to be held in Suwannee 18 on Thursday, Nov 12, 1:40 PM to 3:10 PM
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Sponsored by the Collaborative, Participatory & Empowerment Evaluation TIG
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| Chair(s): |
| Rita Noonan, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, rnoonan@cdc.gov
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| Discussant(s):
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| Corinne Graffunder, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, cgraffunder@cdc.gov
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| Abstract:
The Division of Violence Prevention (DVP) within the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has utilized an empowerment evaluation approach to build the capacity of three of its Programs since 2002. The Empowerment Evaluation with Programs Designed to Prevent First-time Male Perpetration of Sexual Assault Program focused on building evaluation capacity within local organizations. The Domestic Violence Prevention Enhancements and Leadership Through Alliances (DELTA) Program focuses on building prevention and evaluation capacity within community coalitions. The Enhancing and Making Programs and Outcomes Work to End Rape (EMPOWER) Program focuses on building prevention and evaluation capacity within a state level prevention system. We will explore why DVP pursued an empowerment evaluation approach with these Programs; how the approach worked within each of these Programs; capacity outcomes; successes, challenges and lessons learned within and across these Programs - specifically addressing what was most helpful in achieving increases in prevention and evaluation capacity.
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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC's) Empowerment Evaluation With Programs Designed to Prevent First-time Perpetration of Sexual Assault
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| Rita Noonan, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, rnoonan@cdc.gov
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| Deborah Gibbs, RTI International, dag@rti.org
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The lofty goal of pursuing empowerment principles sounds appealing, but why should organizations dedicate resources to it and what does that process entail? This presentation will highlight why CDC pursued an empowerment evaluation strategy with 4 sexual violence prevention programs and then outline key steps in the process. Key steps include the engagement of participating organizations in a technical assistance process based on the FORECAST (formative evaluation consultation and systems technique) model. Using FORECAST enabled the programs to develop logic models, identify evaluation markers and measures, interpret meaning from evaluation data, and expand each program model to include broader social ecological perspectives. Tips and tools will be shared with attendees.
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Empowering Programs With Evaluation Technical Assistance: Outcomes and Lessons Learned
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| Deborah Gibbs, RTI International, dag@rti.org
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| Rita Noonan, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, rnoonan@cdc.gov
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Although empowerment evaluation has gained widespread currency, few reports have described its outcomes. This presentation combines perspectives of participants and technical assistance providers to describe the process and outcomes of CDC's empowerment evaluation with four sexual violence prevention programs. Participating programs reported substantial enhancements in evaluation capacity, resources devoted to evaluation, and the extent and sophistication of their evaluation practice, as well as numerous examples of the application of evaluation findings to program improvement. Experiences from evaluation technical assistance providers identified aspects of the process that were particularly useful in achieving these outcomes, including: the importance of investing in collaborative relationships; maximizing participation among program staff; tailoring the content and form of technical assistance to program preferences; and the value of combining structured learning with program-specific technical assistance.
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Building the Evaluation Capacity of Local Coalitions That Address Intimate Partner Violence Through Empowerment Evaluation
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| Pamela Cox, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, pcox@cdc.gov
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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's DELTA Program utilizes an Empowerment Evaluation approach to build the evaluation capacity of the 59 DELTA-funded local coalitions operating in 14 states. Each DELTA Program state has its own empowerment evaluator who is responsible for coaching the DELTA-funded coalitions in increasing their evaluation capacity and evaluating their capacity building progress as well as specific intimate partner violence prevention strategies implemented by the coalition. These empowerment evaluators have coached these local coalitions in needs assessments, assessments of strategy theory and design, process evaluations, and outcome evaluations. Empowerment evaluators have been encouraged not to utilize a one-size fits all model, but to take each local coalition to its next level of capacity based in its current capacity and resources. This presentation will describe some of the success, challenges and lessons learned to utilizing the Empowerment Evaluation approach to build capacity within DELTA-funded local coalitions.
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Using an Empowerment Evaluation Approach to Build Prevention System Capacity
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| Karen Lang, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, klang@cdc.gov
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Using empowerment evaluation (EE) to build individual and organizational capacity is well documented in the literature. Less common is using empowerment evaluation to build system capacity. CDC's EMPOWER Program is designed to build individual and system level capacity for sexual violence (SV) prevention using an empowerment evaluation approach in six states. We define a system as a network of individuals, groups, organizations or subunits that, through their interaction, have the potential to enhance the primary prevention of SV using a public health approach. This presentation will describe the SV prevention system capacity (PSC) framework, how the framework was developed using EE principles, how EMPOWER states assessed their SV PSC and key findings from a cross-site evaluation of SV PSC. Opportunities and challenges related to building SV prevention system capacity will be explored.
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