In 2013, the Wikimedia Foundation started talking about evaluation. We have worked to help volunteers and organizations to begin evaluating their projects and program activities, to help program leaders and evaluators to:
more clearly identify goals and target outcomes for projects and programs,
measure against those goals and share learning about projects and programs, and
design and learn to implement effective programs to reach goals.
A program evaluation is the systematic collection of information about program activities, characteristics, and outcomes. Its purpose is to answer questions like:
Is a program achieving its goals?
What makes a program effective? How can we improve a program’s effectiveness?
What are the reasonable targets we might expect to reach with a particular program or strategy?
What are the needed processes and resources to implement a program successfully?
What are common challenges and work around strategies for adapting a program to a different context?
A program is a group of related projects and activities that:
share the same objectives and goal(s);
are repeated on a regular basis and involve a commitment, and
are based on a similar theory of change while using similar processes and interventions to make that change happen.
Let’s use Editathons as an example.
Editathons often have the same objectives: to increase editors and content on Wikipedia.
They are repeated and replicated around the world, and have existed for several years.
An example theory of change for all Editathons: people gathered at one location or at one time increases motivation, content, and the number of editors to Wikimedia.
A program leader is anyone in the Wikimedia movement who is involved in funding, planning, organizing, or implementing Wikimedia projects and programs.
Evaluation Capacity Development is a process of continuously increasing a shared understanding and resources (tools, knowledge, and human connections) for a community to efficiently and effectively use in order to learn, build skills, and achieve a shared goal for evaluation.
For this evaluation capacity building initiative, we are all in it together – this effort will be a continuous process of learning for everybody involved. We will work collaboratively and we understand that context matters.
The aims of the current initiative are to support evaluation practice that is:
Empowering
Foster program leader choice
Focus on building program leaders capacity to help themselves
Support and enhance desired outcomes
Participatory
Develop program leaders evaluation logic and skills
Involve program leaders as key participants. They make the major focus and design decisions and select and commit to process and outcomes
Program leaders draw and apply conclusions to the design of their programming.
Utilization-focused
Focus on intended uses and users
Actively involve users in all aspects of evaluation
Measure the extent to which goals and objectives are met
Provide comparable data. This helps to inform decisions to continue, expand, or reduce funding, based on costs and impact.
Lead to ongoing commitment to using evaluation logic and building a community culture of learning
Visit the Evaluation portal talk page and let us know how it helps you. Post other feedback about this site or if you have questions about program evaluation. You may also email the Program Evaluation & Design team directly at evalwikimediaorg.
Part of the Wikimedia Resource Center
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Program Evaluation & Design Workshop (22 June 2013)
Program Evaluation & Design Workshop, June 2013 - Day One with notes (22 June 2013)
Program Evaluation & Design Workshop, June 2013 - Day Two (23 June 2013)
Program Evaluation & Design Workshop, June 2013 - Day Two with notes (22 June 2013)
