{"id":3653,"date":"2021-11-09T15:49:19","date_gmt":"2021-11-09T18:49:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/redecomua.org.br\/?p=3653"},"modified":"2023-10-26T17:26:47","modified_gmt":"2023-10-26T20:26:47","slug":"medindo-o-que-importa-proximos-passos-da-jornada","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordpress-wyy8bhlsif5v8gukfr0yhxue.studio.tikovolpe.com.br\/en\/medindo-o-que-importa-proximos-passos-da-jornada\/","title":{"rendered":"Measuring what matters \u2013 Next steps on the journey"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Barry Knight \u2013 consultant for the Global Fund for Community Foundations (GFCF)<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Where are we<\/span><\/h2>\n

We are in the middle of a process with several lines of action of the initiative \u201cMeasuring what matters\u201d<\/a>. Under the leadership of Global Fund for Community Foundations<\/em> (GFCF), from Candid<\/em> It's from Philanthropy for Social Justice and Peace<\/em> (PSJP), around 130 people working in civil society around the world have been contributing to this work over the last two years. <\/span><\/p>\n

To date, we have produced a report with our main findings. The document \u201cMeasuring what matters\u201d<\/a> shows that (i) simple metrics are not enough to understand the complexity of social changes; and that (ii) the mismatch between funders' expectations regarding metrics and the way civil society works is harming the development of the field. <\/span><\/p>\n

The report is inconclusive regarding these issues, but it already provides a background and offers analyzes and indications on how to progress amidst the difficulties. Its publication is a record of the progress of the work, and a way to stimulate discussions and actions. The document was translated into Russian and Portuguese.<\/span><\/p>\n

Here, we present the next steps on the journey to \u201cmeasure what matters.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

What do people want<\/span><\/h2>\n

From the work carried out so far, we have some well-defined conclusions about what people active in the sphere of civil society want:<\/span><\/p>\n

1. A way to measure how your work affects the complex mechanisms of social change within your communities;<\/span><\/p>\n

2. A better way to structure \u2013 and potentially quantify \u2013 the data they already have about the intangible aspects of their work (e.g., relationships, trust, community ownership, empowerment, and how the community perceives its own resources and capabilities);<\/span><\/p>\n

3. Guidance on how to organize measurement practices within institutions, recognizing that many of them do not have the necessary infrastructure to carry out complex analyses;<\/span><\/p>\n

4. Peer support to combat the loneliness of the practice of measuring work, including sharing cases, examples and presentations on how the topic has been approached;<\/span><\/p>\n

5. Better dialogue with funders, to ensure that they have a more complete view of the social change mechanisms they finance, rather than insisting on the metrics normally requested of institutions (which often have little relevance to the work in base).<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

What people don't want<\/span><\/h2>\n

The works also brought information about what people don't want:<\/span><\/p>\n

1. A simplified model unable to adequately capture the complex mechanisms of social change in which they are involved;<\/span><\/p>\n

2. Measurement systems that presuppose cultural homogeneity and fail to value the importance of context;<\/span><\/p>\n

3. A linear system that presupposes simple and predictable notions of cause and effect, instead of viewing social change as a multiple and polynomial process that points in several directions at the same time;<\/span><\/p>\n

4. Systems that are structured mainly around existing universal models \u2013 as in the case of reports \u201cVital Signs<\/em>\u201d (Vital Signs) or localized versions of the SDG indicators. Although some people find use in such systems for specific situations, customized methods are necessary to achieve full understanding;<\/span><\/p>\n

5. More pressure from your donors to oversimplify the complex processes of social change observed (and often documented in an unstructured way) in your work in communities.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

How people want to proceed <\/span><\/h2>\n

The process developed a good dynamic and is carried out by the participants themselves. They intend to proceed as follows:<\/span><\/p>\n

1. With a structured peer learning process, which allows continuous experimentation and sharing among participants in the application of various measurement models;<\/span><\/p>\n

2. Strengthening good examples \u2013 and there is no shortage of experiences that can be expanded. Some of them are:<\/span><\/p>\n