Mentoring in evaluation & communication: A Trojan horse for adaptive management
Context and MEL challenge
Designing Evaluation and Communication for Impact (DECI) is funded by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC, Ottawa). Our partners are researchers in the global South committed to bridging research to policy in dynamic topics. Their applied research efforts are complex and evolving, and require a developmental MEL support. Since 2009 DECI has been providing mentoring to these research teams in both utilization-focused evaluation and research communication. The DECI project is hosted in Canada, with team members in Kenya, Zimbabwe, Jordan and India. The hallmark of the capacity development approach is just-in-time mentoring, whereby we support the teams as they take ownership over evaluation design and communication planning.
Key lessons / insights
- We have developed a readiness self-assessment form¹ for projects to review and confirm readiness prior to signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU).
- Readiness is about having the power to take ownership over MEL, having management buy-in, having dedicated staff and resources allocated, and having an organizational commitment to adaptation and learning (for more on readiness see: https://doi.org/10.3138/cjpe.4223).
- The approach is best learned through practice, the just-in-time mentoring means that we support the teams based on their calendar; they learn by implementing the steps and by experience.
- The dual role of the DECI team, as a ‘capacity developers’ and also researchers, has created a reflection and learning space. This has led to a blog series, case studies (available through a searchable knowledge base), and Primers.
¹Available by emailing the author.
Principles that guide the work
- Utilization-focused evaluation is a decision-making framework
- Research communication enhances use of findings for influence
- Attention is paid to readiness from the beginning and can be revisited
- Training is demand-driven and provided through just-in-time mentoring
- Course correction of project strategy is expected and planned
- Utilization is the focus from initial project design to completion
- A collaborative, learning, and reflective process is embedded
- Participation and shared ownership are fundamental
- The process builds individual and organizational capacity
- Complexity and evolving contexts are addressed
These principles create the learning space for partners to design evaluation plans and communication strategies with a systems perspective. The emphasis on readiness allows for a review of context, of power dynamics, of leadership and organizational culture; all parts of a system of learning. The mentoring process is flexible and follows the dynamic time line of the partner. Course correction and adjustment to emerging properties of the research are built in. The decision-making framework becomes the canvas for the research teams to jointly review and accommodate their strategy, especially their commitment to bridging research to policy. The mentoring process works like a Trojan horse: while the focus is on decision-making in evaluation design and communication planning; those very decisions have been found to be central to documenting and adjusting strategy in an explicit, concerted and strategic manner.
The framework
Our approach follows the basis steps of Utilization-focused Evaluation and or Research Communication planning; the approach is essentially a decision-making framework.
📝 The ‘aha’ moments
- Most IDRC partners and other busy projects already adapt and rely on their experience, knowledge of context, and intuition.
- What is often missing is an explicit explanation of their de facto strategy. That is why DECI has sought to provide support for adaptive management through its mentoring in evaluation and communication.
- Several partners have noted that the DECI partnership helped them to pause, question, reflect and adjust their strategies in an explicit, concerted manner.
- Our newly released publication provides guidance in capacity development in evaluation and communication that enhances adaptive management. It is the result of several years of action-research provided by the DECI project supporting IDRC-funded researchers in the Global South.
This guide is meant for facilitators of capacity building and organizational learning. The group includes professionals from various fields, including evaluation, communication, organizational learning, adaptive management, and multi-stakeholder planning. Those with a background in evaluation and in communication will find it most relevant.
The guide includes a capacity building facilitation framework that summarizes its contents and the lessons from several years of action-research. The authors write: “We see evaluation and communication as a Trojan horse for enabling adaptive management; both have a concrete role and purpose at the start that gives us an entry point for organizational learning which reaches well beyond these two areas.”
The guide provides the following prompts for facilitators:
Work in pairs to bring two sets of ears and two voices to the table (listening and telling).
Having two facilitators with complementary life experience, backgrounds and skills, broadens the listening process. In addition, different facilitators work differently, creating opportunities for variation in the mentoring process.
Spend time with organization to assess organization’s ‘readiness’ to take on this mentoring.
The readiness review creates a space for dialogue to review the conditions, including discussions about how to increase readiness. From a systems perspective this includes a review of which stakeholders to engage, defining boundaries, and acknowledging the complex and dynamic dimensions of the initiative.
Be prepared to wait if the ‘readiness’ factor is not present, i.e. make sure you have another job so you won’t starve while you wait.
While this may sound basic, it is fundamental: the facilitator needs to afford the time to stand-by, as opposed to pushing for a deadline to fulfill a contract deliverable.
Do your best to start where people are “at” - where possible let them determine what they want to start with and where they want to go with it.
This prompt comes from the field of adult education: the partner is immersed in their context and reality and the facilitator needs to walk in their shoes to the extent possible.
Move at the mentees pace - from time to time this may require a ‘nudge’ but not a push; be prepared to ‘push the agenda’ sometimes if things appear to be stalled.
The issue of time is fundamental to working inside a systems perspective: the pace of change needs to be dictated by the local context, and not imposed by the facilitator. At the same time, there are times when it is healthy for the facilitator to nudge and remind the partner about the next step in the process.
Listen hard - try to have the mentee ask the questions - move the dialogue and talk about what they want to learn.
This prompt focused on making the mentee the driver of the learning process, confirming what it is that matters to them is key to locating the process along the mentee’s priorities.
Be patient - and wait until the next move presents itself (rather than push the agenda).
Timing is of the essence: many of the partners supported undergo different stages of evolution, and the mentoring process needs to respond to them.
Have a goal in mind but make it flexible.
The facilitator has a path (the Framework shown above) but no blueprint: the challenge is to have a direction for navigation but alter the course as circumstances change. The DECI case studies illustrate how each process has been unique.
Know your stuff yourself but not be rigid - be prepared to learn from the mentee and accept that your knowledge of the subject may require new thinking.
The DECI projects’ research agenda has enabled the facilitators to work in a learning mode.
Gauge when the time might be right to suggest that the mentor show an example from another client such that the example might illustrate the issue better than conversation.
Learning from peers and shaping a community of practice is all about finding the right moment when relevant inputs will add value. The facilitator gains experience to gauge when the timing is right and the content is sufficiently relevant.
The guide is the third in a series available free of charge in English, French and Spanish from the publication section of the DECI website. It is our hope that other practitioners will gain from these experiences and resources to improve their mentoring work to facilitate adaptive management in complex settings.
