Amplifying Communities of Partners Receiving Limited or No Funding: Building and Sustaining Capacity to Support Long-Term Success and Evaluability

Abstract Information: The success of programs and interventions often hinges upon the ability of partners to sustain momentum across many years, which can include stretches of time when funding is minimal or unavailable. Before evaluation on the impact and outcomes of a program can happen, it can take several years to build partnerships and capacity, especially when funding is incomplete or inconsistent. Building and supporting a community of practice (CoP) for non- or partially-funded partners can sustain a program’s momentum in the long-run, advance impact to the broader field, and support ongoing data collection and capacity-building efforts necessary for a program to be in an evaluable state. During this session, Deloitte Consulting, LLP will discuss lessons learned, promising practices, and types of support needed for CoPs of non- or partially-funded partners, drawing upon experience supporting two programs at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Injury Prevention and Control: 1. The Cardiff Model for Violence Prevention National Network, a network of partners that are in various stages of implementing the Cardiff Model with limited or no funding to reduce violence in their communities. 2. The Preventing Adverse Childhood Experiences Community of Practice, which Deloitte is newly supporting for self-supported states, tribes, and supporting organizations in preventing adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and promoting positive childhood experiences (PCEs). The session will draw upon insights gathered from these communities, such as the logistical, management, and leadership components that can drive momentum for a CoP in the absence of complete or consistent funding. Learnings from these communities have also demonstrated the importance of using a participant-driven process to fully meet the needs of partners and amplify their voices. The session will also share how CoPs of self-sustaining partners can support the field of evaluation more broadly. Attendees will discuss questions such as: • What about a CoP can support partners’ long-term programmatic success? • How can we best engage partners in needs assessments to ensure we’re amplifying their voices? • What support needs may be most important to partners? • What are best or promising practices for engaging partners in the CoP and building up its membership? • How can we use evaluation tools and methodologies to measure intermediate outcomes and impacts? • How can we support partnership-building across fields or institutions to bolster CoPs? • What does “success” mean or look like for a community of partners receiving limited or no funding? • How can evaluating intermediate outcomes support capacity-building? • How do we communicate the story of a CoP and its partners? • How is this type of low-resource support more broadly beneficial to the field of evaluation? We invite interested participants to join us who have experience (or interest in learning more from others about) sustaining and driving momentum for partners in a CoP that have incomplete or inconsistent funding. This facilitated discussion aims to promote peer-to-peer learning for the audience, allowing the group to share and exchange ideas for supporting the long-term success of programs amidst gaps in funding.