Students listening in a classroom.

Evaluate the Initiative and Reflect on Progress

Monitoring and evaluating progress throughout community engagement efforts is essential for accountability and making adjustments along the way. This involves monitoring the process, activities, and accomplishments along the way. It also involves assessing the impact and merit of the effort, and using the information for adjustment and improvement.

  1. Review the framework for action or logic model previously developed during the planning phase (see Plan section). It should include information about:
    • Purpose or mission
    • Objectives
    • Context or conditions
    • Inputs
    • Strategies or interventions
    • Outputs
    • Intended effects or outcomes
  2. Decide how the community and other stakeholders (including those most affected) will be involved in identifying and monitoring indicators of success, documenting evidence of progress, and sense making about the overall initiative and how it can be improved.
  3. Outline an evaluation plan with evaluation questions, methods, and indicators.
  4. Implement the evaluation plan.
  5. Make sense of the data and justify conclusions.
  6. Indicate how you intend to use the information from the evaluation