When to index?

When to index?

In a world with increasing access to data, indices serve a purpose: to allow for complex concepts to be conceptualized in a single data point and compared across different contexts.

It was with this in mind that we created the Girls’ Opportunity Index in partnership with World Vision. World Vision sought to explore the relationship between the opportunities a girl was provided and child marriage rates. The activity involved only secondary national-level data and the creation of an index seemed perfect to all for country-to-country comparisons.

Evaluation for advancing an equitable and just society

Evaluation for advancing an equitable and just society

As members of the American Evaluation Association (AEA), our core values reflect those of the Association. One of AEA’s Guiding Principles for evaluation focuses on common good and equity: Evaluators strive to contribute to the common good and advancement of an equitable and just society. Our recent client, the Network of the National Library of Medicine (NNLM) at the University of Washington, contracted our team with this goal in mind. In partnership with their team of experts, Informed designed a suite of resources for conducting evaluations with specific populations – K-12 Education, LGBTQIA+, Race & Ethnicity, and Rural Health – that encourages sustainability in M&E processes and procedures.

Acting Locally in the Time of COVID

Acting Locally in the Time of COVID

The COVID-19 pandemic has been hard. Each person in the world is adjusting to this new (temporary) reality, facing his or her own challenges or heartache. We’re thinking of you. We’re wishing we could do more to help. With that desire to do more to help, we’ve recently connected with the flower farmers from Pike Place and Seattle Neighborhood Farmers markets.

Logic Models for the Washington State Arts Commission Creative Forces Summit II

Logic Models for the Washington State Arts Commission Creative Forces Summit II

Earlier this month, InformEd facilitated a capacity building workshop sponsored by the Washington State Arts Commission (ArtsWA) during their Creative Forces Summit II. Over 20 organizations were present at the Summit where we led a series of activities that culminated in logic models for arts programs providing services to military and veteran populations.

Child Participatory Evaluation: Methods to Facilitate Focus Group Discussions with Children

Child Participatory Evaluation: Methods to Facilitate Focus Group Discussions with Children

Most of the projects we are working with ultimately aim to benefit children.  Getting the perspectives and opinions of the primary beneficiaries is key but facilitating effective and insightful discussions with children can be much more difficult than interviewing adults.  Here are a few strategies I recently found useful while facilitating child Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) in Nepal.

School Leadership & Management: Principles-Focused Developmental Evaluation

School Leadership & Management: Principles-Focused Developmental Evaluation

InformEd International is using a Principles-Focused Evaluation approach to guide the Developmental Evaluation (DE) for Save the Children’s School Leadership and Management (SLaM) model. Guiding principles give direction to what should be accomplished by the project. Guiding principles are helpful in complex interventions which need to be adaptive and responsive but also organized around some clear ways of navigating decisions and action. In the face of complexity, guiding principles provide grounding and orientation on how to proceed.