Dear colleagues, we would like to share with you a new contribution to the EvalParticipativa Toolkit. It is a very unique tool, which appeals to the free expression and creativity of children and adolescents. We invite you to read the note and watch the video where Emma Rotondo presents the process of applying the technique of drawing and diagrams as an instrument capable of capturing multiple perspectives.

The use of this tool has been carried out with highly vulnerable populations in fragile and changing social contexts. Three cases are presented and recommendations are offered to incorporate this technique in individual interviews, focus groups and workshops, within the framework of program evaluation processes and systematization of experiences.

EvalParticipativa Toolkit

One of the challenges evaluators face when pursuing participatory evaluation is the need to create real spaces for participation, in which multiple actors can have a real say in the evaluation agenda. Evaluators must therefore be able to identify and use appropriate tools for each social and cultural context of the evaluation process. These tools may be used to analyse a situation, facilitate communication, build shared perspectives, stimulate creativity, facilitate decision making, or reduce the dominance of some participants in order to allow quieter voices to be heard. Their use is of increasing importance in this type of evaluation.

These participatory techniques consist of specific instruments or tools that make each step of the evaluation process feasible, guaranteeing the greatest possible involvement of everybody involved. The tools may consist of a combination of activities such as group exercises, sociodramas, adaptations of popular games, puppets, drawing, puzzles, or any other method that helps achieve the high-quality participation of the many actors involved in the evaluation process. Whether a group interview, a round table, a conference, the use of a flip chart with illustrations, a simulation game, a group activity or a video debate, we can use a wide variety of tools, as long as they are adapted to the topic, the characteristics of the group and the proposed objectives.

EvalParticipativa’s Toolkit is a space to share those unique tools that colleagues in the region have designed and experimented with in different contexts in an effort to achieve the greatest possible involvement of multiple social actors in the evaluation process. Today we present the USE OF DRAWINGS AND DIAGRAMS TO CAPTURE MULTIPLE PERSPECTIVES OF VULNERABLE POPULATION (PERU).

You can access other tools in this link. Greetings from the EvalParticipativa coordination team.