Outcome Mapping and Harvesting Community of Practice

How Outcome Mapping and Outcome Harvesting support us to engage children and youth 

Church of Sweden presented how they support their partners in harvesting outcomes.

Presentations on OM-OH being complementary methods and how PMU introduced Outcome harvesting in their work.

On 28th Jan we conducted our first online CoP. In response to requests for some practical examples of OM and OH in practice, Phil and Mariam shared about their work with Taksvärkki and some of the tools they have been using. These aren't "perfect" examples (if such a thing exists!) but we hope that it can provide some inspiration.

We hope to continue the conversation, and future CoP events will focus more on sharing other examples in our network and discussing the challenges and successes we are experiencing!

A recording of the CoP presentation is below, and a pdf of the slides.

Learning Objectives

After active participation in this training you will be able to: 

•  explain and identify what is an outcome, and what is not.
•  identify when Outcome Mapping and Outcome Harvesting is relevant and appropriate to use, and when not.
•  use actor-focused approaches and principles to assess applications/reports that use Outcome Mapping or Outcome Harvesting.
• dialogue with partners on outcome based methodologies in support of learning and adaptive management.

Here are the slides and video links of the recorded sessions.

How:

•  3 real-time webinars on zoom/mural, homework tasks (between each session), and ongoing peer support through Fabo Community of Practice (CoP)

When: 

• Session 1: Why focus on Outcomes - Mon 2nd Nov, 10am (CET)
• Session 2: Introduction to Outcome Mapping - Wed 4th Nov, 10am (CET)
• Session 3: Introduction to Outcome Harvesting - Fri 6th Nov, 10am (CET)

• Fabo - We will use this online platform to share all links and information about the course
• Zoom - For the online meetings
• Mural - Is a online collaborative workspace a bit like a training room, with virtual flip charts, sticky notes etc. (see image to the right)
• Google sheets - we will be using google sheets to collect our outcome harvesting data.
You can find the link to all the tools you need for each session, in the Session sections below.  

 


Miriam Mondragon  (SMC - host)	Erik Bäckelid  (SMC - technical facilitator)	Mariam Smith (Learning Loop - Trainer)	Phil Smith (Learning Loop - Trainer)

For more information about our trainers - Learning Loop - please see the greeting below.

Can I get the course material?

Everything will be made available in the course material section below!

In order to get the most out of this workshop we recommend that you prepare the following before the webinar starts:

• Update Zoom to the latest version.  If you do not already have the Zoom app, you can download it from https://zoom.us/support/download.
• Make sure you have a gmail account - you will need this later to access the outcome harvesting database homework.
• Try out Mural - our collaborative workshop platform - by following the test Mural link below

On the day of the webinar...

• Find a quiet calm environment where you won't be disturbed, and won't disturb others - you will be expected to work with a small group during this course.
• Use headphones or earphones with an in-built microphone. Please check your audio and camera settings before the webinar. 
• We start at 10:00, but log in 10 minutes before to that you assure your technology is working. 
  
• Please have your camera on, it is much easier to present if we can see your faces! If your internet connection is truly bad and you can´t have your camera on, please try to have it on at least when you speak.
• Mute your microphone when you are not speaking so that you do not cause extra noise.

The first session focuses on the relevance of outcome-focused approaches for complex social change and taking a systems perspective.

• Enable participants to see the relevance of outcome-focused approaches in relation to complex social change.
• Help participants understand the basics of what OM and OH are, and how they are related but different.
• Experience drawing up an actor map based on their own project or based on a project proposal you are familiar with.

When: Monday 2nd Nov, 10am (CET)

In this session we will build on our work with actor mapping, and introduce the outcome mapping approach to planning and monitoring. We will:

• Help participants see the relevance of actor focused approaches to planning and monitoring
• Introduce the Outcome Mapping approach to planning and monitoring, showing examples of how it is used in practice
• Discuss the challenges of working with OM from a desk-officer / supporting partner perspective, and raise questions
• Introduce concepts related to gathering outcomes for M&E usage.

When: Wednesday 4th Nov, 10am (CET)

In this session will look at how we can use outcomes for monitoring and evaluation, and introduce the Outcome Harvesting approach. We will: 

• Reflect on the experience of writing outcome statements, and how these are central to Outcome Harvesting
• Review the overall process of Outcome Harvesting as an evaluation approach.
• Look how OM and OH can be adapted and used as monitoring and evaluation tools to support learning and adaptive management.
• Discuss how these approaches might affect their role as supporting partners, and how they could use them OR relate to them if used by a partner.

When: Friday 6th Nov, 10am (CET)

Outcome Harvesting - more like foraging than harvesting!

Hi! 

Phil and I are looking forward to meet you and getting to know you as we lead sessions to introduce outcome focused approaches. We understand that many of you know each other already, which is great! Here is a short introduction to who we are!

Phil and I live on the west coast of Sweden with our three children where our family spends as much free time as possible out in nature. We are lucky not to be in strict lock down at the moment. We currently both work with our firm Learning Loop which takes us to different places around the world, physically or digitally! We enjoy the opportunity to learn about the variety of international development contexts and the variety of approaches to working with people in complex social change. Our desire is to be a support in understanding how change happens and to do this, we often draw on our own past experiences. 

One of the experiences that has shaped me a lot, is when  I worked in leadership roles for action research and community development programmes among indigenous people in Cambodia 2010-2015. This is when I discovered the joy of using new tools and approaches, such as Outcome Mapping, better suited for work in complex social change. It gave space for staff to work with complex situations in a dynamic, relational and actor-focused way; it enhanced learning, enabled adaptation, and changed communication. I later explored these types of cultural changes during my work on a masters thesis in pedagogy (2015-2017). Besides consultancies, I currently serve as a steward in the Outcome Mapping Learning Community, which gives me a lot of inspiration.

While in Cambodia, Phil worked with SIL in support of organisations throughout Asia as they planned, learned, monitored and evaluated their work. Phil was also involved in our explorations of new tools and approaches. After returning to Sweden, he worked for the Swedish Mission Council as capacity building advisor, giving him another perspective on learning systems. In whatever situation he is in, he loves to visualise what people are saying and synthesise discussions. 

We work with local organisations and funders, supporting them in designing work and developing learning frameworks, merging pedagogy and development practice. We love to work alongside organisations as they integrate an approach or a tool in practice, in their particular contexts and relationships. Some examples of what we have done:

• Facilitated communities of practice, project design, learning and decision-making processes.
• Conducted developmental evaluations of programmes, using Outcome Harvesting as a key approach, usually coaching others in the process.
• Trained organisations in the use of approaches and tools such as Outcome Mapping, Outcome Harvesting, Most Significant Change and Everyday Political Analysis.
• Supported organisations as they adapt tools for their purposes.
• Supported programmes over time as they set up systems to manage and process qualitative data.
• Run onsite and remote (online) outcome harvesting evaluations

Take care and stay well!

Mariam and Phil

You can learning more about us at www.learningloop.co

Useful Links:

Outcome Mapping Learning Community

Outcome Harvesting Community

Mural