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Two months ago, I facilitated an evaluation meeting for one of my clients. The client, an organization that specializes in community-based health peer-to-peer training related to pregnancy, birth, breastfeeding and early parenting, received funding for a multi-year birth equity project that also includes program evaluation capacity building.
During the meeting, the staff and I had a conversation about the various aspects of program evaluation, from planning and implementation, to data interpretation and measuring impact.
A takeaway message I gave to the staff is that, try as we might, it can be difficult to design and implement and evaluation process that is unbiased. Why? Situational Awareness.
In the general sense, situational awareness is being aware of your surroundings. This keep you on your toes and more likely to sense danger. In the context of program evaluation, situational awareness can help you spot red flags as well as help you become aware of not only your surroundings, but also what your presence is adding to that environment.
So, I asked the staff:
“How can you and your organization become more culturally responsive?”
Many under sourced communities are already leery of researchers, evaluators and anyone coming to their community to collect data. As a Black person and as a woman, you’d think it would be easy for me to go into a community where I share the same race and/or gender. But sometimes, that can be where the commonality ends.
There’s a power dynamic at play, intimidation, a history of mistrust of researchers and evaluators, and the lived experiences of marginalized communities being viewed as subjects or statistics rather people with important and valuable stories to tell. And I’m at a point in my personal and professional life where I can acknowledge the various levels of privilege and power I have.
It’s very easy to become comfortable with our commonalities, because those commonalities can be the “in” we need into a community setting. But you still have to do the work before, during, and after to ensure you’re being as intentionally responsive to a community’s culture as possible. And “culture” is more than just race/ethnicity. It encompasses age, gender identity, religion, language, ability, sexual preference, geographic region, physical and mental health, how an organization operates, and more.
More importantly, you have to be aware of your biases and motivations, as well as know who has the power, money, and political ties to make decisions within the organization you’re working with and within the communities they serve. You also have to know the systems people are operating under that can impact cultural responsiveness. Just as I reflect after a project has ended, I also pinpoint the context that a project is operating within before I start a project and during the project. Here’s a 3-part reflective process I use to reflect on my level of cultural responsiveness. These questions are adaptable to any situation where you’re interacting with a client and a community or cultural group:
Myself
- What am I bringing to this project (knowledge, time capacity, skill set, etc.)?
- What assumptions or biases do I have about this program, the organization, and the community(ies) it serves?
- In what ways will I be able to connect with my client?
- In what ways can I find commonality with the community or cultural group I’m engaging with?
- Am I comfortable working in the community’s environment? If not, why?
- How long will it take me to realistically perform the tasks required for this project? Are there any perceived barriers within this project that may impact my quality of work?
- What might be some ways to engage the client and the community or cultural group in a collaborative evaluation process, a process that gives the client, the community or cultural group, myself, and other stakeholders the same level of decision making?
My Client
- Who are the key decision makers? How are decisions made (top down vs collaborative)?
- What are some assumptions or biases the organization’s leadership and staff may have about this program, myself, and the community(ies) it serves?
- How much do the key decision makers support staff? Does the staff support each other? If so, in what ways?
- Is the organization open to hearing different views or ways of doing things for the program and/or evaluation?
- What physical and financial constraints is the organization operating under that can impact the processes and outcomes of the project?
- Who has requested this evaluation? Who is funding the program and the evaluation?
- What policies or legislations are affecting this organization and this program?
- Does the client genuinely care about this program and evaluation, or is it more so for the sake of securing funding?
- Can I sense if the client’s funder is encouraging the evaluation findings to look a particular way?
- Is the client afraid of receiving “bad news” related to evaluation findings? Are they open to interpreting new ways of thinking about the findings?
- Will the evaluation findings impact the life (and funding) of the program? How can I help the client prioritize doing good work and doing right by the communities they serve while also being responsive to their funder’s requests?
- Is the client open to a collaborative evaluation process, a process that gives the client, the community or cultural group, the evaluator, and other stakeholders the same level of decision making?
The Community
- Where is the evaluated program physically based?
- What are some assumptions or biases the community or cultural group may have about the client organization, the program being evaluated, or the evaluator?
- What community demographic characteristics should the evaluator and organization be aware of?
- Who are the leaders within the community, and how do they impact interactions between community members and the client organization?
- Are there any cultural customs the evaluator should be aware of?
- What oppressive systems, if any, is the community or cultural group operating under?
- What does this evaluation have to offer to the community or cultural group? What risks would this evaluation pose for systems the community or cultural group are operating under?
- What legislative policies are in place that may impact the quality of life for the community or cultural group and their engagement with the evaluated program?
- Could the community or cultural group open to a collaborative evaluation process, a process that gives the community or cultural group, the the client, evaluator, and other stakeholders the same level of decision making?
Key Takeaways
Being intentional about how your presence can impact your level of cultural responsive is just as important as knowing as much as you can about the community or cultural group you’re interacting with. While your identities can help you find commonalities with your clients and with the communities they serve, never solely rest on these identities carrying you through. Cultural responsiveness is a lifelong learning process.
