1. What do we know now? Setting the scene
JLI Meeting – Mobilisation of Local Faith Communities
Dublin, 8-9th December 2016
Discussion starter

2. The following slides are some simplified spectrums and dilemmas to kick start our discussions over our 2 days together.

3. Purpose of Evidence Focus of Evidence
Learning & Adaptation for local faith communities
Learning, Adaptation & Accountability for practitioners
Influencing & Engaging the public square
Focus of Evidence
What we have been doing within FBOs to date (eg qualitative studies, RCTs, hybrid studies) to set the scene for the case studies and bring in some of the broader dialogue around approaches to evidence building
How to influence the public square as well as equip LFCs themselves to learn and adapt.
Overall evidence related to faith and mobilization of LFCs
Discussion of what evidence may be needed to support increased faith engagement by policymakers
Open exploratory, no pre-defined outcomes
Testing theories with some pre-defined outcomes
Driven by clear outcomes, goals, set dimensions

4. Quality of Evidence
Lite touch, anecdotal, inferred - generally more qualitative
Hybrid qualitative, quantitative approaches
Statistically robust, detailed, attribution focused – generally quantitative
What we have been doing within FBOs to date (eg qualitative studies, RCTs, hybrid studies) to set the scene for the case studies and bring in some of the broader dialogue around approaches to evidence building
How to influence the public square as well as equip LFCs themselves to learn and adapt.
Overall evidence related to faith and mobilization of LFCs
Discussion of what evidence may be needed to support increased faith engagement by policymakers
Focus on the effectiveness of the process/intervention
Understanding the drivers of change of the process and interventions
Focus on the actual impact achieved

5. Discussion Starter Questions
How should these dilemmas / spectrums shape our thinking? What other factors may influence the purpose, focus, and quality of the evidence we generate? Who’s evidence is it and what are the ethical considerations we need to consider in the design, collecting and utilisation of evidence?

6. Feedback

7. MEL with LFCs
Ask LFCS what they want and need to know to do good work
The NGO community needs to develop M&E systems that produce information that is relevant and useful to communities.
I think NGOs should understand/grapple with the benefits/catalytic nature of dissemination with the communities they partner with. Intention and move into action regarding participation

8. Organisational Learning
INGOs should spend more time on contextual analysis to understand who their local partners are
The NGO community needs to develop M&E systems that produce information that is relevant and useful to communities.
I will share information with our M&E team around data collection processes shared today.
‘Powers’ (agencies) being willing to give up power and control so our faith communities are not eaten/squashed by the ‘machine’
Tearfund should decide whether straddling the gap between faith and development is too hard
FBOs should not try so hard 
See more interfaith collaboration that shares skills/resources/best practice (for example the collaboration between Islamic Relief and Channels of Hope

9. System wide
The Global Faith community should be more assertive about, and clearer on its own unique contribution
International FBOs should pool expertise and resource for 2-3 (robust, peer reviewed studies) and then put rest of energy into MEL for local communities and organisation effective practice
We as FBOs should partner together to tackle priority evidence gaps
We must find a way to communicate quality narrative analysis to a humanitarian audience, meaningfully and/or convincingly
We need to catalogue and share the evidence we already have. This is so much hidden. Celebrate the evidence we have and accept this is a long game
Celebrate the evidence we have and accept this is a long game
Agencies need to hear and see the evidence of how LFCs contribute to impact on SDGs