The Times They Are A-Changin’: Adapting Data Collection Methods during COVID-19 to Generate and Communicate Insights
Panel Discussion
About the Event
What happens when your multi-year data collection effort unexpectedly turns into a virtual data collection effort?
This panel and facilitated Q&A with evaluators from Guidehouse and the U.S. Department of State’s (DOS) Bureau for Educational and Cultural Affairs’ (ECA) Evaluation Division will give participants the opportunity to learn from their experiences and lessons learned on conducting a multi-year global evaluation, and from their reflections on the unforeseen bright spots in rapidly adapting an in-progress data collection to the realities of COVID-19.
With many practitioners taking stock of how COVID-19 has impacted our work, this conversation will allow one team of evaluators and federal evaluation managers the opportunity to cast their gaze inward and reflect on the technologies, methods, and partnership attributes needed to produce, disseminate, and utilize valuable insights and recommendations in an unpredictably changed operating environment.
Panel topics will include, among others:
• Recovering when faced with obstacles in generating primary data
• Finding unexpected bright spots of shifting to virtual data-collection
• Using social media analysis to strengthen evaluations
• Creating a utilization-focused evaluation culture within an evaluation team and organization
• Setting yourself up for success with evaluation use and results dissemination
• Reconciling different methods of primary data collection generation
In the last 20-30 minutes of the session, participants will have the opportunity to ask questions of the panelists and engage in dialogue about personal experiences and reflections of their own to foster greater learning among the group.
Proposed Panelists:
• Megan Philbin, Evaluation Team Lead, Guidehouse
• Cynthia Rathinasamy, Evaluation Specialist, Guidehouse
• Jason Dury, Open Source Solutions Director, Guidehouse
• Marie-Ellen Ehounou, Monitoring & Evaluation Specialist, U.S. Department of State’s (DOS) Bureau for Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA)
About the Evaluation:
ECA commissioned the evaluation to examine the degree to which the U.S.-based components of the Mandela Washington Fellowship are meeting the program’s stated goals and the impact on advancing DOS strategic policy priorities. More specifically, the evaluation offered an analysis of how approximately 3,700 Fellowship Alumni from 2014-2018 operationalize skills and knowledge learned during their U.S. exchange experience to advance their career goals, impact communities, and build lasting and productive relationships between people of the United States and Africa.
About the Young African Leaders Initiative and the Mandela Washington Fellowship:
The Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI) is a signature effort of the USG. The program’s purpose is to invest in the next generation of African leaders. Launched in 2010, YALI was designed to support young African leaders as they spur growth and prosperity, strengthen democratic governance, and enhance peace and security across Sub-Saharan Africa. The Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders, the YALI Network, and the YALI Regional Leadership Centers (RLC) are the three components of YALI. The Mandela Washington Fellowship is the flagship program of YALI that empowers emerging leaders through academic coursework, leadership training, and networking.
This panel and facilitated Q&A with evaluators from Guidehouse and the U.S. Department of State’s (DOS) Bureau for Educational and Cultural Affairs’ (ECA) Evaluation Division will give participants the opportunity to learn from their experiences and lessons learned on conducting a multi-year global evaluation, and from their reflections on the unforeseen bright spots in rapidly adapting an in-progress data collection to the realities of COVID-19.
With many practitioners taking stock of how COVID-19 has impacted our work, this conversation will allow one team of evaluators and federal evaluation managers the opportunity to cast their gaze inward and reflect on the technologies, methods, and partnership attributes needed to produce, disseminate, and utilize valuable insights and recommendations in an unpredictably changed operating environment.
Panel topics will include, among others:
• Recovering when faced with obstacles in generating primary data
• Finding unexpected bright spots of shifting to virtual data-collection
• Using social media analysis to strengthen evaluations
• Creating a utilization-focused evaluation culture within an evaluation team and organization
• Setting yourself up for success with evaluation use and results dissemination
• Reconciling different methods of primary data collection generation
In the last 20-30 minutes of the session, participants will have the opportunity to ask questions of the panelists and engage in dialogue about personal experiences and reflections of their own to foster greater learning among the group.
Proposed Panelists:
• Megan Philbin, Evaluation Team Lead, Guidehouse
• Cynthia Rathinasamy, Evaluation Specialist, Guidehouse
• Jason Dury, Open Source Solutions Director, Guidehouse
• Marie-Ellen Ehounou, Monitoring & Evaluation Specialist, U.S. Department of State’s (DOS) Bureau for Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA)
About the Evaluation:
ECA commissioned the evaluation to examine the degree to which the U.S.-based components of the Mandela Washington Fellowship are meeting the program’s stated goals and the impact on advancing DOS strategic policy priorities. More specifically, the evaluation offered an analysis of how approximately 3,700 Fellowship Alumni from 2014-2018 operationalize skills and knowledge learned during their U.S. exchange experience to advance their career goals, impact communities, and build lasting and productive relationships between people of the United States and Africa.
About the Young African Leaders Initiative and the Mandela Washington Fellowship:
The Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI) is a signature effort of the USG. The program’s purpose is to invest in the next generation of African leaders. Launched in 2010, YALI was designed to support young African leaders as they spur growth and prosperity, strengthen democratic governance, and enhance peace and security across Sub-Saharan Africa. The Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders, the YALI Network, and the YALI Regional Leadership Centers (RLC) are the three components of YALI. The Mandela Washington Fellowship is the flagship program of YALI that empowers emerging leaders through academic coursework, leadership training, and networking.
Speakers
| Name | Title | Biography |
|---|---|---|
| Megan Philbin, | Evaluation Team Lead | Megan is a Director in Guidehouse’s National Security Segment where she leads engagements for a variety of public and private organizations. Megan specializes in organizational transformations, change management, program design and evaluation, performance management, and process improvement. |
| Cynthia Rathinasamy, | Evaluation Specialist | Cynthia is a Senior Consultant with Guidehouse, focusing on providing M&E, organizational change, and program management support to clients. She has supported variety of international development and diplomacy-focused clients. |
| Jason Dury | Open Source Solutions Director | Jason is a Director in Guidehouse’s Open Source Solutions practice. His focus includes open source intelligence, supply chain risk management, social media research and analysis, crisis management, strategic program design, global security, and cyber threat intelligence. |
| Marie-Ellen Ehounou | Monitoring & Evaluation Specialist | Marie-Ellen is an M&E Specialist with the Department of State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. She manages large-scale evaluation projects, implements program-monitoring efforts, and conducts capacity-building for the bureau and its partners. |