An evaluation tool that applies Outcome Mapping principles to identify, verify and formulate outcomes when at the moment of intentional design there was substantial uncertainty about relations of cause and effect.
Author: OMLC Coordinator
Published: Friday 12 September 2014
What is Outcome Harvesting? from Outcome Mapping on Vimeo.
Outcome Harvesting can be used for either monitoring or evaluation of projects, programs or organisations. Depending on the situation, either an external or internal person can be designated to lead the Outcome Harvesting process. To ensure success, the harvester recruits the participation of the change agents actively influencing the outcome – the change in one or more social actor. The user who requires the findings of the harvest is also engaged throughout the process. The process consists of six iterative steps
Outcome Harvesting Concepts
Change agent: The individual or organisation that influences an outcome.
Harvest users: The people who require the findings of an Outcome Harvest to make decisions or take action.
Harvesters: People responsible for managing the Outcome Harvest.
Outcome Description: The written formulation of who changed what, when and where, and how it was influenced by a change agent. May include the outcome’s significance, context, and history, amongst other dimensions.
Outcome Harvest: The identification, formulation, analysis and interpretation of outcomes to answer useable questions.
Outcome: Change in the behaviour, relationships, actions, activities, policies or practices of a social actor.
Social actor: Individual, group, community, organisation or institution.
Substantiation: Confirmation of the substance of an Outcome Description by an informant knowledgeable about the outcome but independent of the change agent.
Useful questions: Questions that guide the Outcome Harvest because the answers to them will be put to use by the harvest users.
This nugget was applied in: Globally
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