Last month, in Limbe, Cameroon, we had the Storytelling & Participatory Evaluation Retreat, named “Leveraging Indigenous Heritage for Participatory and Innovative Evaluation”.
This is a joint cooperation experience between three main partners, the German Institute for Development Evaluation (DEval), the Community of Practice and Learning for Participatory Evaluation (EvalParticipativa) and eBASE AFRICA to document and learn from Africa’s rich storytelling traditions and Latin America participatory approaches in evaluation.
The background for this retreat highlights a reawakening of approaches to reimagine and localize research methods to better portray African values. African approaches for evaluation employ participative principles and risk being lost if researchers do not rally to develop and reimagine them. One approach with strong African roots is Storytelling. This tool has been the most vital means of communication to predict and prevent future calamities, announce the birth of heroes, nurture youths to practice moral rectitude and perpetuate ancestral good conduct. As a form of entertainment, information and education to the public, it is the crown jewel of every community, as the saying goes; thus, when all is lost, culture is the only thing left in the life of a person. eBase Africa has been using storytelling as an approach for participatory evaluation, dissemination of research evidence rooted in social and community issues.
In Latin America, EvalParticipativa, the Community of Practice and Learning for Participatory Evaluation is the result of a joint initiative between the Social and Environmental Labor Studies Program (PETAS) at the National University of San Juan (Argentina) and Focelac, the evaluation capacity development and networking project in Latin America run by the German Institute for Development Evaluation (DEval). During the last six years EvalParticipativa has worked and inclusively engaged different social actors in a process strengthening inclusive and participatory evaluation practices in the region. EvalParticipativa has identified and analysed participatory evaluation experiences and identified key features to facilitate these processes. It has also created an online repository of manuals, guides and validated tools for participatory evaluation, as well as documented good practices on participatory approaches to evaluation in order to support the public sector, NGOs and civil society organisations.
The STORYTELLING AND PARTICIPATORY EVALUATION RETREAT organized in Cameroon was the perfect arena for artists of both the new and old generation, academicians, researchers and the local community to work on bringing connections between storytelling and evaluation, opening new avenues for important aspects such as data collection and analysis, as well as the dissemination of the knowledge generated. It was a good opportunity to identify indigenous approaches for evaluation and participative evaluation, creating a South-South-North cooperation and collaborative activities among eBASE, DEval and PETAS to deepen these approaches in different regions. The following video illustrates the process and main contents of the retreat.
