Sharing Evaluation Data with Stakeholders KATE CUMMINGS / ILAB LIBERIA Kate Marple-Cantrell The Cloudburst Group

Introduction Sharing Findings Communities that provided data may find some analyses informative and helpful in their own development efforts. Address critique that research is ‘extractive’: Include communities in research benefits Build trust between researchers and communities KATE CUMMINGS / ILAB LIBERIA facilitates important community access to data they made possible through study participation with this knowledge, communities can harness findings to realize local development goals and protect their interests augment the research project by strengthening the rigor, relevance, and reach of such research - programming adjustments - increase confidence in results

Community Land Protection Program Evaluation Rigorous evaluation of community land protection model in three rural counties in Liberia (Lofa, Maryland, and River Gee) Panel data: Baseline 2014; Midline 2017 Outcomes: Land governance, empowerment, tenure security, conservation case study of sharing research results with local communities during rigorous quasi-experimental evaluation of a community land protection model in Liberia fills this knowledge gap on the benefits of community land protection by rigorously investigating the effects of the CLPP model on improving tenure security, local empowerment, resource governance, and livelihoods at the household and community level

Getting Data Back to the Communities Data Presentation Exercises February-March 2018 Distribute information at town level 2-3 hour community meeting Skilled facilitators translate statistics and guide discussion Opportunity to interrogate, validate surprising research findings Community can respond to results KATE CUMMINGS / ILAB LIBERIA data dissemination activity is designed to communicate important study findings about their customary communal lands and land governance that communities can integrate into ongoing efforts to secure property rights for community lands Key consideration during the development of the plan for sharing this evaluation data with community stakeholders were that every town should receive a presentation to maximize the reach of the data sharing presentation, as most community members are unlikely to travel to another town to participate in the data sharing presentation.

Getting Data Back to the Communities Develop Content Iterative process between evaluation team, USAID, program designer (Namati), and program implementer in Liberia (SDI) Craft appropriate strategies to communicate: Basic statistics Changes over time BEN EWING / THE CLOUDBURST GROUP overarching goal of this activity is for communities to have opportunity to learn about themselves, rather than focusing on our learning as researchers about communities it is uncommon for residents of these towns to have any formal education. In fact, about a third of household survey respondents at midline (29%) had no formal education. Since all interested members of the community are encouraged to attend the data presentation exercise, finding a way to communicate information that is not didactic and that is clear to illiterate or innumerate community members is a key consideration.

Getting Data Back to the Communities Interactive Presentation to Communities Delivery of interactive presentation to participating towns (treatment and control): Discuss 12 key data points from 5 main themes Statistics customized to individual town Discussion of each theme includes: brief introduction about conditions on this topic overview of changes in the community open dialogue and reflection period During the open discussion of each data point, highly skilled facilitators translate the statistics and guide the conversation Community members have an opportunity to interrogate research findings in several important ways, providing comments, responses, and potentially the chance for validation of surprising research findings

Getting Data Back to the Communities Visual Aid Interactive visual aid poster with art work by local cartoonist to visualize key data points throughout presentation Facilitates comprehension Appropriate for audience with limited literacy Complements activities employed by facilitator, such as ‘guessing game’ where participants state what they expect the finding to be Laminated and can be drawn on by facilitator using whiteboard marker

Getting Data Back to the Communities Delivering Presentations KATE CUMMINGS / ILAB LIBERIA Trained facilitators for 6 days and piloted exercise in communities where data collection was piloted

Getting Data Back to the Communities Delivering Presentations KATE CUMMINGS / ILAB LIBERIA

Getting Data Back to the Communities Results and Feedback Facilitators note details of meeting: Attendance Topics most discussed Program Feedback Evaluation feedback Responses to findings Next steps Difficult topics KATE CUMMINGS / ILAB LIBERIA

Getting Data Back to the Communities Results and Feedback Limited program or evaluation feedback Able to validate some confusing findings Communities eager to identify and take next steps Assuage concerns of implementer Example Desire to continue progress through program stages Desire for CLPP follow-on / expansion Unsurprisingly, widespread desire for the passage of land reform Complicated women's rights landscape: some communities embrace women's rights but others do not. 

Recommendations and Conclusions New methodology by USAID E3/LU will inform future data dissemination activities Upcoming evaluation data dissemination in Zambia Can be customized in many ways to suit needs of stakeholders Valuable to control communities who also donate time to research effort Better method for communicating results to local stakeholders (versus translating long / technical evaluation reports)

Thank you Kate Marple-Cantrell Kate.Marple-Cantrell@CloudburstGroup.com For more information about the Community Land Protection Program evaluation and data sharing please visit: www.land-links.org