120 - Measuring Amplified Voices Responsibly

Abstract Information: Community perspectives have traditionally been sidelined in program development and evaluation, in favour of academics, funders and program managers. Including these voices can provide invaluable insights: allowing adaptation to each community’s circumstances. This can benefit researchers, policymakers and employers – and we believe with careful attention, the communities themselves. In this Birds of a Feather session, we wish to hold space for and learn from our peers. Questions that will drive our conversation include: How could evaluation strengthen organizational capacity to amplify the voices of the communities they support? What governance and data ownership practices do you put in place regarding inclusion of proximal communities? How do you measure quality, effectiveness or impact of this work? How do you avoid tokenism when trying to amplify voices of underserved populations?