RE: Can visual tools help evaluators communicate and engage better? | Eval Forward

Thanks Kombate for a great summary of the benefits of using visual tools. It is so interesting to hear how members of our community are using these tools to enhance the evaluation process as well as to communicate findings. I have found social network mapping really useful for working with stakeholders to understand and get insights into partnerships and communication flows. The social network maps can also be used to communicate these insights in a powerful way. The maps in the report Harvey shared are worth having a look at.

I’m interested to hear that UNDP and JICA are both including GIS (mapping and satellite data) in evaluations and finding this enhances the quality of the evaluation (for planning, as an extra layer of evidence and for communicating findings). Perhaps there are implications here for the training and resources we need to make available to our evaluation teams to allow them to benefit from these approaches?

If anyone is interested in some practical tips and tools for social network mapping in their evaluations have a look at the Net-Map tool box https://netmap.wordpress.com/about/  . Has anybody in the group used this?

Thanks Isha for telling us about JICA’s increasing use of pictorials in their reports. I found a nice example of a visual summary of their project evaluations here https://www.jica.go.jp/Resource/english/our_work/evaluation/reports/2021/iu2gj8000000ompj-att/glance_2021.pdf

Keisuke, your work continues to be an inspiration to me! It is so nice to see the visual of what success for WFP looks like in the Phillipines. I like the idea of creating a colouring competition so lots of people (and kids too) really look at it closely. Involving local artists in the evaluation visualisation process is also a great idea.  Please do share the video with us when its ready.

Looking forward to hearing more experiences from the group!