Making Evaluations Transparent, Participatory and Relevant in a Networked World: Using Social Media for Development Evaluation

Making Evaluations Transparent, Participatory Making Evaluations Transparent, Participatory and Relevant in a Networked World:and Relevant in a Networked World:

Use of Social Media in Development EvaluationUse of Social Media in Development Evaluation

Alex McKenzie and Bahar SalimovaIndependent Evaluation Group, World Bank

EES Conference, Helsinki, FinlandOctober 4, 2012

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Outline

I. About IEG

II. Greater Use of Evaluation Findings

III. Social Media and Categories of Participants

IV. IEG’s Social Media Strategy and Approaches

V. Lessons and Challenges

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I. About IEG

► Independent Evaluation Group (IEG) at the World Bank Group; It reports to the Board of Directors

►Assesses what works and what doesn’t

►Accountability and Learning

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► Several “Knowledge for Action” theories

► Focusing on approaches putting users/people and engagement objectives first (POST method)

► Emphasizing value of relationships : building “communal” relationships

II. Greater Use of Evaluation II. Greater Use of Evaluation FindingsFindings

III. Social Media and Categories of III. Social Media and Categories of ParticipantsParticipants

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90-9-1 rule

•90 percent - only consume posted content, 9 percent - prioritizes their engagement, and 1 percent - contributes most of the content.

Q: How do you get to 9 -1 percent and create

influencers?

Q: How does one create “groundswell”?

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Outreach

• Announcements via SM channels [FB, Twitter, YouTube, SlideShare]

• Huffington Post & Guardian (UK) [blogs]

Engagement• Short and long term outreach

campaigns. Examples: Forest Evaluation vs. Afghanistan CPE

Learning• “Gender & Evaluation Workshop”

[Ning]

IV. IEG’s Social Media Strategy and IV. IEG’s Social Media Strategy and Approaches Approaches

IEG on FacebookIEG on Facebook

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Over 15,000 fans with active discussions and polls

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IEG on YouTubeIEG on YouTube

Afghanistan Country Program Afghanistan Country Program EvaluationEvaluation

Short term outreach campaign that lasted 3 months. Key activities included: ►Facebook Polls and Discussions/Comments

►Dedicated Twitter hashtags - #AfghanistanEval and #Afghanistan to generate interest and follow-up

►Questions and comments in Dari, Pashto and English to tap into local knowledge

Outcome:Generated over 1,950 poll votes and 50 comments in 3 months outreach

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Afghanistan Country Program Afghanistan Country Program EvaluationEvaluation

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Comment from a Facebook user on access to education in Afghanistan:

“in terms of education, Afghans have a lot more access than they had 5 years ago. Filing of 160,000 applications for Kankor exam this year could be counted as a success and achievement of Afghans compared to 5 years ago.”

Comment from a Facebook user on access to health in Afghanistan:

“ unfortunately most of these works [health improvement projects] are limited and they remain only on a piece of paper instead of being implemented. A good example is our district, where nothing has been done yet …” Comment from a user from Ahmad Abad district, Paktia province. [Comment translated from Pashto]

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Afghanistan Country Program Afghanistan Country Program Evaluation Evaluation

Long term campaign started in September 2011. Key activities included:

Building a community on Facebook and reaching out to existing communities on LinkedIn.

Set up a stand-alone Facebook page vs. using IEG’s Facebook page.

Outcomes: Four polls that generated over 720 votes/responses Over 100 comments on open-ended questions, mostly on

LinkedIn networks Over 6,000 followers on Facebook

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Forest EvaluationForest Evaluation

► Facebook Demographic

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Forest EvaluationForest Evaluation

► LinkedIn groups targeting main stakeholders. Two most active groups were:

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Forest EvaluationForest Evaluation

REDD + Network

Natural Resource Management

Professionals Group

Comments from LinkedIn

► "In Nicaragua, for example, part of the Bosawas Reserve that is managed by the indigenous community was deforested 16 times less than the surrounding area. In Brazil, Alto Juruá, the oldest extractive reserve in the country, maintained 99 percent of its forest cover 10 years after it was created. Forests were protected while income diversification appears to have improved the livelihoods of local residents." - Comment on LinkedIn by a user who is the President at Satya Development International LLC.

 ► "My experience with the private forest contractors has been a

depressing one. The forest contractors have played havoc with forest wealth in Pakistan, either working under the government forest departments or under the autonomous forest corporations. They have plundered and exploited the forest dependent communities as well." - Comment from a LinkedIn user from Pakistan.

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Forest EvaluationForest Evaluation

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Forest EvaluationForest Evaluation

Facebook Poll

Employed blend of outreach and learning events: Shared findings through videos, pictures, web content Two learning workshops in Asia and Africa Online discussions following up learning workshops in the regions Video Conferences with 12 country stakeholders

Outcomes: Social collaboration platform with over 300 users Knowledge document reflecting recommendations and

discussions from workshops, online discussions and video-conference

Collaboration between a donor and country office to follow up with training needs

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Gender StudyGender Study

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Gender StudyGender Study

V. Lessons Learned V. Lessons Learned

► Need to deepen relationships with social media consumers

► Team up with enthusiastic evaluation teams to champion social media work

► Share knowledge relevant to followers and add to existing conversations

► Create shorter and more visual content

► Building relationships and communities takes time and commitment

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V. ChallengesV. Challenges

► Finding the right voice and balance in sharing content and engaging

► Mainstreaming evaluative work through social media in different cycles

► Working with Corporate Procurement, Information Security, and Public Relations

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Thank you!

Alex McKenzie [email protected]

Bahar Salimova [email protected]

Follow us onTwitter @WorldBank_IEG

Facebook @ www.facebook.com/IndependentEvaluationGroup

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