AWID ME Framework

 

 “AWID’s Evaluation Strategy: Approach, Framework, and Mechanisms. (2006 – 2010).”

 

AWID integrates an Outcome Mapping and Theory of Change approach. AWID recognizes that the promotion of social justice is essentially about changing how people relate to each other and their environment.  For this reason it is helpful for AWID to track changes by stakeholder groups (or boundary partners) as well as make explicit the pathways through which they see changes in social justice occurring. 

 

AWID’s Theory of Change is based on the understanding that:

• Change is non linear, the result of many different actions and circumstances, both intentional and unintentional.
• Change aimed at empowerment and social justice is political, implies changes in power relations and therefore involves tensions, struggle, and conflict.
• Power is complex and has different dimensions:
• Visible power is about rules, structures and policies that serve certain people over others, or processes that exclude certain groups from decision-making.
• Hidden power is about processes were a wide range of people are represented but only few have influence and set agendas.
• Invisible power is about how meaning is being shaped, how situations and circumstances are framed and establishes what is considered ‘normal’ or acceptable.
• Success is the result of many different actors and influences and therefore the ability of individuals and groups to contribute to each others’ successes. 

 

AWID is guided by the following key evaluation principles:

• AWID is a dynamic, ground-breaking, risk-taking, multi-generational, multi-lingual, visionary and feminist organization. In order to optimize its efforts to influence and promote change AWID needs to learn about what works, what doesn’t work and why.
• AWID approaches evaluation as a tool for both learning and accountability. 
• Success is as much about reaching the final destination as about the quality of the relationships and connections that develop along the way. Success is measured in terms of the different activities and strategies that strengthen the visibility, voice, influence and capacity of different actors (individuals, groups, organizations, networks, etc.), including their capacity to work together. This process is called movement building.
• Useful and meaningful evaluation meets standards for ethical research and quality enlists the participation of relevant users and represents an important asset for those evaluated.

 

Example of How AWID Monitors and Evaluates its Progress

 

AWID has used an outcome mapping system to assess changes in each of their Strategic Initiatives on an annual basis leading toward achievement of their 5 year outcomes. In the past these annual outcomes were identified at three levels: outcomes they would Expect to See

(which would be easy to achieve), Like to see (through active learning or engagement), and Love to see (profound change).  However, after trying this system out for while, AWID realized that the process was incredibly time consuming and not producing the type of streamlined information they wanted to see. As such, they adapted the model for more meaningful tracking of outcomes and annual progress. An example of more recent outcomes with more streamlined progress markers for tracking and assessing progress appears below for the Building Feminist Movements and Organizations (BFEMO) initiative.

 

Where is the Money for Women’s Rights? 2010 M&E Plan
WITM Outcomes 2006-2012  OUTCOME 1: Women’s rights activists have an in depth-understanding and cutting edge knowledge on key issues related to funding sectors and resource mobilization for women’s rights work.  OUTCOME 2: A significant increase in the quantity and quality of funding available to support the work of women’s organizations in all regions.  OUTCOME 3: An increase in the capacity of women’s organizations and movements to build more equitable and political relationships with donors, network, use information and improve their strategies to mobilize resources for their women’s rights work. OUTCOME 4: A transformation in the relationship that women’s rights activists, organizations and movements have with money, moving towards a more political perspective on resource mobilization as a crucial part of women’s rights agendas
Annual Outcomes	Activity	Progress Markers	M&E tools
Outcome 1 Continue to update the knowledge on funding trends for women’s rights work and organizing, mainly tracking the information available within the donor agencies and monitoring the impact of the crisis on different funding sectors	1. A paper containing updated analysis of the current global context and trends that are influencing the funding landscape for women’s organizations and movements.   2. 5 briefs (initiated in 2009) with an update on funding trends for various sectors as well as an analysis of the impact of the financial crisis and economic recession. Briefs will be on funds, bi/multilateral agencies, INGOs and private foundations as well as the crisis’ impact on women’s organizations.   4.  Strengthening our strategy for information dissemination. This includes continuing the quarterly WITM newsletter, reaching out to partners to identify useful means of disseminating resources through their networks etc…	• An increased demand for and use of the Fundher reports, fact sheets and other information and tools produced by WITM.   • Women’s organizations report a greater understanding of dynamics shaping resource mobilization for women’s rights work.   • A larger and more engaged WITM constituency   • WITM briefs used for donor advocacy purposes   • More in-depth region-specific information and analysis is available on resource mobilization in CEE/CIS	Track number of requests and demands that come in for WITM action research   Track mention of WITM in research, reports of other organizations   Designing questions for the 2011 WITM survey on: the impact of the crisis on women’s rights work and organizing and the utility of the WITM research   Place a question in the AWID membership newsletter inviting women’s organisations and donor agencies to share their experiences and stories of how they have been affected by the crisis   Launch the bi/multilateral and the women's organizations brief at the 2010 CSW in events aimed at increasing bilateral support for women's rights work, collect feedback.       Analyze statistics of the WITM landing page on awid.org and using Google analytics to track how often people are accessing the landing page and its contents.   Post-meeting evaluation of the CEE Strategy meeting
Outcome 2  Develop solid arguments about the positive impact of investing in women’s organizations and movements, particularly smaller organizations, to make the case for more resources to directly support women’s organizing	1. WITM with BFEMO will develop a feminist critique of current M&E approaches and explore alternatives through research and strategizing with a sub-set of MDG3 Fund grantees.	• Women’s organizations have a greater understanding of M&E methodologies and the connections to effective resource mobilization (including stronger means to negotiate with donors around M&E requirements)   • Women’s rights organizations, particularly small, grassroots organisations with budgets under 50K, accessing better quality funding   • Donors raise fewer questions about the ‘value added’ of supporting women’s organizations	Collect feedback from participants of the MDG3 Dialogue through an evaluation of the Grantees Meeting (to be held in early 2010 to gain more data on the utility of this work and paper.

 

In addition to tracking annual progress toward achieving five year outcomes, AWID engages in periodic evaluations of particular Strategic Initiatives and their broader impact. For example, AWID recently conducted an evaluation of the 2008 Forum in Cape Town one year after the event to gain deeper information on the impact of the events, information, and networking on global and local women’s organizations thinking, strategies, or movement building. 

 

Strengths:

 

• The AWID framework attends to the complexities of mapping social change processes, specifically highlighting the nonlinear nature of change and how multiple contributions create changed outcomes. These complexities do not inhibit mapping processes, but rather enrich the analysis and contextualize the planning and monitoring phases.
• AWID highlights the importance of process and relationship building on the pathway to change, underlining the importance of multiple actors collaborating and working together to achieve a shared goal. 
• AWID’s M&E processes are flexible and responsive to the organization’s needs, capacities, and aims. The aim is to create assessment mechanisms to foster organizational learning.
• The establishment of annual progress markers provides specific criteria on which to aim for improvement and lays the groundwork for assessing achievement of longer-term priorities and outcomes.
• By identifying challenges and strategizing around potential solutions for each program initiative, AWID reflects on the innerworkings of programs, which ultimately could be central to identifying and overcoming barriers to successful implementation of activities. 
• The inclusion of learning mechanisms helps to strengthen existing organizational structures and programs as well as identify areas for future improvement.
• AWID draws from participatory planning processes involving stakeholders in planning as necessary. 

 

Weaknesses (or not designed for):

 

• The outcome mapping process is an in-depth and thorough process, requiring a considerable time commitment on the part of staff and leadership. In addition, the process is best embarked on with the help of a facilitator who can help train staff and streamline the process as necessary.
• Outcome mapping requires staff capacity in developing measurable outcomes and progress markers.
• The  system does not easily allow for tracking of risks and reversals.

 

 

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[1] Reproduced from 2008. “AWID’s Evaluation Strategy: Approach, Framework, and Mechanisms. (2006 – 2010).