Evaluating the process

Activity concept

Before the end of a participatory event, it is useful to take stock of participants' experience of the design, flow and organisation of the event itself. This can help you improve the design and implementation for the future. This is even more important if participants took part in the design of the event or if you plan to carry out more such events in the future. In all cases, by the end of the event participants will have become experts on the process, with a particular knowledge that you as an organiser might not have - the way the process was experienced by them. For this reason you should take into consideration their particular perspective and hear the ideas they might have for improving it.

Make sure it is clear whether you are evaluating the whole participatory process or just this event, as the process might include several events and some other aspects (such as >recruitment and >follow-up). 

Stage: Closing

Format: In person, Online, Hybrid

Work Modality: Large groups, Plenary

Location: Outdoor, Indoor

Duration: 30mins

Topic(s): Pollinators

Tools

Post-its, Pens, crayons etc..., Flipchart, Polling/survey application

Team

Facilitator / moderator, Note taker

As this session is about the participatory event as a whole (and potentially can be about the whole participatory process), ideally the whole team could be there, to listen directly to feedback, and discuss improvement options with participants.

Process

An easy way to do an evaluation is to create a poster with different activities enumerated and a scale under each one of these. Participants, are then invited to post stickers on the scale. However, this will give you little content to understand how to improve things. So if you really want to learn, you will have to provide opportunities for more substantial feedback. This can be as simple as asking participants for their opinions and opening the floor to comments. You can ask which was their most or least favourite activity, how they would improve these, what they enjoyed, what they will take home from the event... You can go in a circle if the group is small, or go popcorn style. You can also do this in a more creative way. One idea is to use Climer cards, where participants chose a picture that represents how they feel or what they think, and write comments (see the picture above for an example).

Sometimes, participants might be reluctant to share openly negative feedback - if you worry this might be the case, there are ways to make the activity more or less anonymous. For Climer cards, it's enough that they don't write their names and throw the comments into a box, from which you later draw the cards. You can also use an online polling tool, where participants can leave anonymous feedback.

When participants provide their comments, don't try to defend yourself as an organiser when they're critical. Rather, really listen to what participants have to say - it is important to hear how they experienced things, even if you think you took care of a given issue.

You can do an evaluation at the end of the event or later on, through an email or questionnaire. There are pros and cons to both. 

• At the end of the event, people will be still excited from all the social interactions and a sense of achievement, so they will in general be more positive about the event. However, as the evaluation is done as part of the programme, it is likely everyone will provide feedback.
• If you do evaluation later, you will likely receive fewer responses. However, people will have time to reflect on their experiences, and as the immediate excitement fades, you will probably receive more balanced, insightful answers. Still, make sure that you do not wait too long with collecting feedback as the memory of activities fades.