Spark Insight Partners develops innovative, research-based solutions to complex societal problems.
This blog is co-authored by Dr. Jewlya Lynn, Spark Policy Institute, and Hallie Preskill, FSG. The blog is also posted on FSG’s website: www.fsg.org Traditionally, evaluation has focused on understanding whether a program is making progress against pre-determined indicators. In this context, the quality of the evaluation is often measured in part by the “rigor” …
Continue reading “Redefining Rigor: Describing quality evaluation in complex, adaptive settings”
What a year it’s been! No doubt, 2015 had its ups and downs, from the ground-breaking Paris Agreement to address climate change, to continuing gun violence; from marriage equality to global refugee crises; from “The Dress” to the latest installment of the Star Wars saga. Here at Spark, we had some amazing moments – providing …
How do you know if you’re getting the best quality in your evaluations? Quality in evaluation used to be defined as rigor (and sometimes still is), with rigor meaning the competence of the evaluator, the legitimacy of the process and, of course, applying the best research methods to the collection and analysis of data. These …
Continue reading “How do you know if you’re getting the best quality in your evaluations?”
When you get in the morning, how do you decide what the weather is likely to be? Often, we look up the weather forecast on our phones. But we also look out the window. After all, sometimes the weather report tells us there is a 10% chance of rain at the same time as the …
I had the good fortune in June to find myself in the Virgin Islands facilitating a strategic roadmap session focused on addressing food systems issues, followed by a few days on the beaches with my family. The wonderful thing about a beach vacation, other than watching the absolute joy on your child’s face as they …
There is power in voices coming together to protest a broken system or to heal communally after a system has hurt them, whether through hashtags on social media or through US Representatives raising their hands in protest on the floor of the House. But there is greater power in listening to those who stand to …
Continue reading “Community Engagement: Nine Dos and a Don’t”
Last summer, the Spark team was in one of our monthly all day team retreats. We use these conversations to ground ourselves in what matters about our work and stay true to our values. To begin the day, we watched parts of two Ted talks: The first talk helped us explore the concept of excellence, …
Continue reading “Reflections of a change agent: Sometimes you need to shut up and listen”
In preparing for a presentation at a collective impact forum in Oklahoma, I was trying to decide what I could share with a room full of social innovators that they wouldn’t already know. After seeing the line-up –including foundations, collective impact initiatives, community and political leaders – it was clear these were people with tremendous …
Continue reading “Oh DEAR – Why Experimentation is Key to Social Innovation”
This month, we’ve looked at how to use the private sector to scale change. Now I want to shift the focus outside of the public/private realm and look at the role other groups can plan in creating meaningful change: specifically, the role the faith community can play in bringing attention to and energizing people around …
Continue reading “Working with the Faith Community to Spark Social Change”
I’ve been thinking about this issue of how to scale social innovation a lot lately. When I was at the D.C. Presidio Fellowship week, we talked with the Social Innovation Fund. Their focus is on mobilizing public and private resources to find and grow the best community solutions. They identify evidence-based strategies that can make …
Continue reading “Scaling Change: Market Forces are Part of the Solution”
