| Session Title: Does Sensemaker Make Sense? Evaluating Development Initiatives Through Narrative Capture and Tagging in Kenya and Latin America |
| Demonstration Session 520 to be held in PRESIDIO A on Friday, Nov 12, 9:15 AM to 10:45 AM |
| Sponsored by the Systems in Evaluation TIG and the Qualitative Methods TIG |
| Presenter(s): |
| John Hecklinger, GlobalGiving Foundation, jhecklinger@globalgiving.org |
| Irene Guijt, Learning by Design, iguijt@learningbydesign |
| Abstract: John Hecklinger and Irene Guijt will demonstrate how GlobalGiving in one experiment, and Centro Latinoamericano para el Desarollo Rural (RIMISP) in another, explored the possibility of engaging community members, implementing organizations, researchers, donors, and grantmakers in a cost-effective, real time evaluation effort of small-scale projects and policy influencing research processes in the developing world. We will demonstrate how we used Cognitive Edge’s SenseMaker software on the ground in Africa and Latin America to capture and tag stories gathered from community members, researchers, and social change agents, enabling us to visually depict patterns of impact and change. Subsequent analysis led to strategic questions. Rooted in complexity theory, which looks at systems that are inherently unpredictable and cognitive science, which considers how people make sense, this experiment explores how multiple perspectives illuminate underlying patterns when more traditional means of evaluation are not workable. |