Organic international evaluation: Catholic Sisters Inter-congregational Connections in Las Americas context

Abstract Information: In 2021, a group of Catholic sisters were awarded a three-year philanthropic grant to increase leadership capacities to serve migrant and indigenous communities primarily between the U.S. and Mexico. A project was developed to form collaborative partnerships between networks of religious sisters, their congregations, and their ministries to allow a more proactive and effective approach to serving targeted vulnerable communities at critical junctures, especially in healthcare, education, family services, and artisanal works. The project is framed by two major components, (1) ministerial request of funds and/or students service-learning for support, and (2) participation in a year-long, virtual leadership training course from a Mexican university. The evaluation plan was developed and implemented to collect, analyze and report data based on the proposal and has served as the framework for monitoring and evaluating progress of grant objectives. The evaluation team worked from the roots, collaboratively with the project managers and stakeholders to generate authentic measurements and appropriate data collection tools that helped monitor, evaluate, and learn from the interventions created from the funds allotted by the foundation. The Monitor-Evaluate-Learning Model is posing successes and lessons learned in evaluation, especially with the involvement of the various connections spanning the different sectors ranging from grant infrastructure, religious organizations, universities, and communities in the U.S. and Mexico. Successes include: (1) Congregations communicating and working together in partnerships on projects within their ministries, (2) Ministries working more closely with universities by involving student service-learning, and (3) Sharing how Religious Sisters are incorporating new knowledge gained within their ministries. Lesson Learned include: (1) Centralizing data collection, (2) creating an electronic infrastructure used by collaborators, and (3) Comparing initial data collected to new data collected over time. We will share vignettes and recommendations from the results of the three-year evaluation work on how to use the MEL model in action, and how to make evaluation more relevant, useful, and impactful. Weaved throughout the presentation are highlighted culturally- unique social and national circumstances, multiple perspectives, the importance of personal connection, and changed settings in our evaluation practices.