eKitabu was honored to be invited to the first UNCHR HEA bootcamp on Kenya's coast. The HEA team documented the lessons learned from the bootcamp on their blog.We wanted to dig in to

TOC tree, HEA pix, DFID PbR "Sharpening" article, Missing Middle doc, DLT dig lit stack post?

And here are 2 photos attached that I got from Clara, one of the UNHCR organizers.

In the first snap our group's diagram is the "EVALUATION" poster, bottom left corner of the set on the wall.

In the second snap, the poster, with Tilal (UNICEF) behind it and Mohamed (UNHCR) to one side, is our verbal formulation focusing on the garderners.

To explain abit more: we imagined and sketched the concept of EVALUATION as a tree, or even the larger system and dynamic of the tree in its setting together with the tools and skills (ladders) to cultivate the tree.

And we linked the Theory of Change to a holistic view of evaluation, meaning that evaluation relates to ALL stages of your Theory of Change.

So:

Soil, Roots = Context or Challenges

Ground level, Base of tree trunk, Sheep pooping on the ground beside the tree (in our poster) = Inputs

Trunk up to limbs = Process

Limbs = Outputs

Leaves = Outcomes

Fruit = Impact

...and Seeds within the Fruits are what begets scale, when planted in the soil, and tended by the "gardeners."

We labelled the stages of Theory of Change on the side of the poster, the left hand vertical edge (from bottom): Context, Inputs, Process, Outputs, Outcomes, Impact.

The ladders, at all different angles from the ground to a limb and from lower limbs to higher ones, are the evaluation framework that the gardeners use to prune and direct (the program), to inspect its health, get insight into what's happening, and also to collect the fruit.

We don't necessarily need to depict gardeners. In the paper version we didn't. The ladders seemed to get the point across.

But the pooping sheep was a big crowd pleaser.

Note: since an acacia tree tends to have flat sections, it was a good tree to use visually for its various levels.

It's also the most visible, common and iconic tree in rural Africa.

Does that help?