Deepening Your Participatory Practices

Abstract

Participatory practices are important tools for evaluators working to increase the equity and social justice practices of their work. However, the impact of participatory processes can be limited when they get stuck at a shallow level. In this one-day workshop, facilitators from the Institute for Community Health will lead participants in an exploration of how to go beyond surface-level consultation by presenting on techniques and best practices, leading group discussions and reflections, and engaging with participants in a group project. Topics to be covered include: techniques for co-designing evaluations with folks without previous evaluation background; building deep relationships in the context of an evaluation advisory committee; working in multilingual contexts; making projects more welcoming for people with a wide variety of backgrounds, education levels, cognitive styles, and lived experiences; and making the case for a participatory process to evaluation commissioners. Small groups will conduct a project in which they lay out detailed plans for a participatory evaluation, respond to unexpected situations arising from the co-design process, and make the case for a participatory process to evaluation commissioners.