Organizational Learning and Development

Andrew Mott, Director of the Community Learning Partnership and former Executive Director of the Center for Community Change, stresses the importance of building on existing grassroots approaches to assessment and learning.

Program evaluation continues to be one of the most challenging aspects of the grantmaking process. While there are many approaches to evaluation, this publication focuses on participatory approaches. Given the decrease of funding and increased focus on accountability, funders are under increasing pressure to demonstrate that they are using their dollars strategically. Funders have different priorities as they approach evaluation. Some are concerned with assessment, others are committed to using evaluation as a learning tool, while still others see capacity-building as central to their mission. Whatever the focus, a participatory approach can help funders achieve their goals. A well-planned, inclusive process can build knowledge among the grantees, the grantmaking institution and the broader field. An evaluation that adds the perspectives of the primary stakeholders in the grant's success - the beneficiaries - gives the funder vital information concerning the extent to which the grant is meeting its goals. By including the beneficiaries in the process it enables them to identify problems within the program and to provide potential solutions to these challenges. The information and resources contained in this publication have been provided to assist you in selecting an evaluation process that will help you achieve your goals. The tools and strategies suggested have allowed many foundations across the country to increase the impact of their grantmaking and improve relationships between grantors and grantees.

In September, 2003, a remarkable crosssection of people came together in Canada for an international exchange on the different approaches they were using to strengthen the forces for positive social change in different parts of the world. The Gray Rocks conference convened more than three dozen community organizers and activists, evaluators and other "learning partners" from eleven countries to focus on how they were building strong systems to help social change organizations analyze, explain and strengthen their work. Over three and a half days they discussed how, as organizers or outsiders, they were helping activist groups meet their internal need to keep assessing, reflecting on and strengthening their work so they could increase their impact, while also meeting their external need to help their partners, funders and others outside their organizations understand, evaluate and learn from their work.

Several months after the Gray Rocks conference on Strengthening Social Change Through Assessment and Learning, several people who had worked on the conference interviewed almost all the participants to learn what they currently saw as priorities for action on the organizational learning and evaluation questions we discussed in Quebec. We used a common approach to the interviews, starting with open-ended questions designed to give interviewees maximum latitude to express their views on what would be the most helpful to them and to the field of social change. We then asked interviewees for their current views on the tentative priorities which were discussed on the conference's last morning.

Hand In Hand: Organizational Learning and Organizational Development for Social Change: Final Report to Funders On the North American Group on Organizational Learning and Development (PDF)