Building Capacity in Evaluating Outcomes

This extensive online guide and Powerpoint presentation is a comprehensive yet basic manual written for trainers and facilitators. Presented in user friendly language, the guide is almost like an encyclopedia for evaluation. It is also a teaching and facilitating resource for community-based programs and organizations. The graphics and language used are slightly dated, but the ideas are well presented. It provides 93 activities and materials for practitioners working in and with community-based programs and can be used in building the capacity of individuals, groups, and organizations to evaluate outcomes. It provides a complete set of practical resources that can be used or modified when working with community-based programs, including: -Eight units that cover the core topics of evaluation: getting ready; planning; engaging stakeholders; focusing the evaluation; collecting data; analyzing data; using data; and managing an evaluation. Each unit includes a) hands-on activities, handouts and a slide presentation; b) a facilitator’s guide that provides resources and tips to enhance learning, as well as strategies to evaluate your own evaluation capacity building work; and c) a glossary, key resource list, and bibliography. In the Powerpoint with 86 slides, there are examples of logic models that could be used in civic engagement --meaning macro-programs that are working to bring about long-term change. (The content guide for the manual is shown here. Use this file as a quick reference to the content of the manual. It lists all activities and the materials needed for each.) Though UWEX is a leader in the evaluation training field, the design of this guide, which uses clip art, may not be as readily appealing to arts practitioners.