Yes - we have worked with schools in academic distress and helped them achieve academic success, specifically in terms of student learning, standardized testing, and engaging pedagogy

She was an inspiration to me too and still is.

Thanks. It is the give a person a fish you feed them for a day, teach them to fish and you have helped them feed themselves for a lifetime approach to evaluation. Self-determination is the key - as you help people use evaluation to take charge of their lives they transform themselves and their communities. It also helps us actualize our own potential as we help others.

I agree 100%. More and more folks are applying not only to communities but to themselves as you say - as individuals. It can be truly transformative.

It works. If you give people the opportunity to take charge of their lives, assess their performance, and plan for the future - they do it and it becomes addictive. They are retaking their lives by turning the process upside down

Thanks. She is the kind of person that can change your life. Her confidence, self-assurance, and self-determination is inspiring.

Thanks. I have found for all of our superficial differences, we are fundamentally the same. We want the best for our kids. We want to grow and learn. We want a better life. EE has helped people become more self-determined and realize their dreams.

Thanks. It is truly transformational and often liberatory in nature as I see people and entire communities reshape their futures.

We agree 100%.

It works and people who have used it rarely let it go because they can see what they can do without waiting for someone else to solve their problems.

Wonderful to hear. For more information about it see my latest book Empowerment Evaluation and Social Justice: Confronting the Culture of Silence. It provides more detail about these two cases and the role of leadership in the process.

Many thanks. I try to minimize the jargon since it typically just gets in the way of understanding. Also, we are on the same page when it comes to using evaluation to enhance life, focusing on self-determination and meaningful outcomes.

Yes - I value individual growth but my focus is on community-level self-determination and success.

I am in complete agreement. I have found inclusion is positive, enriching, and rewarding. I have also found that there are times when the "weakest link" saves the day with their knowledge, expertise, and contributions. In addition there is something to be said about "strength in numbers" which invites inclusion as a guiding principle.

Yes I agree 100%. Too often evaluation is used to find fault or document failure. Evaluation can and should be uplifting, helping people turn themselves and their communities around. Helping people empower themselves is gratifying because it can carry them and their families through their entire lives not just a short-term demonstration project.

I will never forget her. She helped me crystalize my thoughts about how we have the power to take charge and transform our lives, in spite of the obstacles the world places in front of us.

Thanks. Despite all the problems in the world, people can take charge of their lives and hold themselves accountable.

Many thanks. I have seen what people can do with just a little assistance and it is remarkable. Even with plenty of obstacles in their way a few steps and some coaching and it is absolutely amazing to see what people can do for themselves.

Wonderful to hear. I have learned so much from kids with disabilities and the power of self-determination. They helped me understand that we all have obstacles and barriers and that we all need to be more self-determined.

Some day we will realize that we all have disabilities, we just recognize a small slice of them at this time. Similarly, we all could be more self-determined.

I feel the same way. It is like a ripple in a pond. As we empower ourselves, we can reach out and help others empower themselves. We are building an endless stream of evaluation capacity building that lasts a life time.

Pride and productivity. I have returned to school district that embraced the approach over 20 years ago (they asked me to return) and they are still engaged in a continuous quality improvement approach.

Thanks - it is a powerful thing to see happen over and over again. I should say, it does not happen overnight. There are plenty of missteps and detours but when you see people take charge of their own lives it can be absolutely breathtaking and certainly rewarding. Thanks for your thoughts and comments.

Thanks. Each of the people I spoke about has helped me highlight the power of people to transform their communities and realize their dreams.

Many thanks - you are very kind.

Many thanks Charity. We have teamed up for many years transforming academic distress into academic success.

I was so impressed with her too. She represents what I call gutsy self-determination. Her actions helped thousands of young people with disabilities.

Thanks. I am also reinvigorated when I see folks use empowerment evaluation to transform their lives. I often see the same people over the years and they have made great strides for themselves, their families, and their communities. Best wishes.

Thanks. It was wonderful serving as a critical friend or coach. They made it all happen.

Many thanks. I am lucky to be doing what I love because it works and I see people transform their own lives every day using empowerment evaluation. It is not always easy or smooth, life has plenty of bumps in the road and detours, but I honestly find the journey as exciting and rewarding as the destination.

Wonderful to hear. I have spoken with many workshop participants and many students who ask about applying empowerment evaluation to their own lives and they find it works. It is a simple process of crystalizing your mission or purpose, assessing where you are now, and planning for the future (monitoring your progress so you can make mid-course corrections).

Many thanks. I have seen first hand the power of this approach in peoples' hands. They literally turn their lives around and contribute to real-world results in their own communities.

Many thanks. I also find people around the globe taking charge of their lives through empowerment evaluation absolutely amazing.

Thanks. It has been a powerful force for good in big and small communities around the world.

Many thanks. I am also in awe of folks I work with as they pursue their dreams and succeed.

Absolutely right. My son is Yurok and presented at a session about using empowerment evaluation to help tribes become more self-determined at a national conference.

I agree. I think they would find they are more productive and offer a higher quality of life (with purpose and results).

It is like a mirror where you must reflect on your accomplishments and shortcomings. However, unlike traditional approaches, you are not demonized or denigrated for shortcomings. Instead, shortcomings are viewed as a signal for help. The community jumps in and helps you restrategize, concerning how to accomplish your objectives. Measurements are recorded on a quarterly basis to allow for regular check-ups or status updates, which then allow for midcourse corrections (before it is too late). It is a journey, but as you say very "worthwhile".

They inspire me and keep me going (often from airport to airport like today on my way from Massachusetts to California again).

You are correct. Unfortunately, too many school districts across the nation falsely equate having a physical disability with having a cognitive disability. We are doing what we can to correct this misperception, in the process of facilitating empowerment evaluations.

Many thanks. I have more examples in my latest book Empowerment Evaluation and Social Justice.

Yes - I have another book called Speaking the Language of Power and it highlights the many "languages" you need to speak in order to be effective with sponsors, governmental agencies, communities, and organizations. In this Ted Talk I highlight the languages of: statistics, pictures, test scores, and of course money.

Many thanks. The irony, as you can see from the talk, is that anyone can do this and make a real difference in peoples' lives.

Thanks for helping to get the word out - much appreciated.

Many thanks. I find it inspiring to see what people can do when given the opportunity to take charge of their lives. As an empowerment evaluator or "critical friend" I just serve as a coach and resource. I am lucky to be a part of this shift in people's perspective and change - its all about self-determination.

Many thanks. I believe we are stronger as a community and as a nation when we are inclusive. We need all the talents we can identify to address our global challenges. In addition, the more self-determined we are as individuals, the more we can accomplish as a collective force for the greater good.

Many thanks. I have been working very hard to improve people's lives by sharing a tool for self-determination that really works. Wishing you the best.

Many thanks.

It is a challenging balancing act. The key is to let go and let people take charge but with a safety net. I remember one project I was working on in South Africa. While helping a township community work on high blood pressure issues I could overhear some community members talk about planting gardens (for food sustainability). I know a little bit about gardening and I turned to that group and began to say how they might start setting up their gardens and one person said "it's okay David, we got this." The old me, or traditional evaluator. might have been offended that I had come thousands of miles to be with them and offer what I could to help them but my advice was not needed. However, the "new" me as an empowerment evaluator and "critical friend" was thrilled that they didn't need me anymore. They were learning to handle their own affairs. I knew it was more important that they try to set up their own gardens than rely on me. At the same time, I know they had consulted with some agricultural students in a nearby university - so I knew they were not operating blind.

Oh yes - it was incredible. I did not anticipate the resistance. In retrospect, I realize we were going through a paradigm shift. "Giving evaluation away" or letting community members evaluate their own program was viewed as threatening to people who made a living conducting evaluations. It also was threatening to people who needed to maintain control. They found it difficult if not impossible to let go of that power and the role they occupied in the hierarchy of power and knowledge. Overtime, it made sense to enough people that it became a part of the intellectual landscape of evaluation.

Hi - take a look at my latest book for specific concepts and steps to move forward. Anyone can use and apply the approach. My latest book with specific steps is Empowerment Evaluation and Social Justice: Confronting a Culture of Silence. Earlier books include Empowerment Evaluation: Knowledge and Tools for Self-assessment, Evaluation Capacity Building, and Accountability.

It is more than management jargon. I have spent a good part of my life helping people use it to help themselves. I have recorded it and documented in articles, books, and blog postings. I am not interested in short-term fixes or buzz words. Take a look at some of my books for concrete examples including my latest book Empowerment Evaluation and Social Justice: Confronting the Culture of Silence. Once you take a look at some of those examples from around the globe please feel free to ask me about the project or any questions you may have. I think you will find this is very real and very powerful. Thanks for taking the time to engage in the dialogue.

This was for an entire school district. We are using EE to eliminate tuberculosis in India right now.

Typically I am invited so I don't run into much resistance. However, we are all socialized into roles so even though I am invited when schedules and budgets get tight sometimes folks will say "David you are the expert you should do it" and I respond "we will do it" and we continue to build on their strengths and do the work together. I am not a purist. I am practical and happy to jump in and assist as needed. Thanks for the question. Best wishes.

Sure - We have examples of Native Americans using it to build one of the largest unlicensed wireless networks in the country and a digital printing press (see my book titled Empowerment Evaluation in the Digital Villages: Hewlett-Packard's $15 Million Race Toward Social Justice). We have examples of students (4th and 5th graders) using it in their schools to make it more inclusive and inviting for students in their school system (see our 2nd edition of Empowerment Evaluation: Knowledge and Tools for Self-assessment, Evaluation Capacity Building, and Accountability). We have used it to help Stanford School of Medicine prepare for and pass its accreditation review and revise its curriculum (see Empowerment Evaluation: a collaborative approach to evaluating and transforming a Medical School curriculum in the journal Academic Medicine). If you have time, take a look at some of these examples and I am happy to answer any questions.

Yes - we work with nonprofits and Silicon Valley companies alike. They follow the same basic 3 step process to move from 1) mission to 2) taking stock of where they are to 3) plan for the future. We break complex problems down because they are overwhelming otherwise. Then we assess each major (prioritized) issue or concern and then when it is time to plan for the future we reconnect the activities or highlight how they interact and are reinforcing. This allows us to keep the process manageable while embracing the complexity of the issue at home. Hope that is helpful.

We can never be completely objective. Everyone has a bias based on who they are, their positions, and their roles. However, we can approximate the concept. What's nice about empowerment evaluation is that it is inclusive - which helps people hold each other accountable, contributing to fairness, honesty, and objectivity.

Empowerment evaluation is very similar to traditional evaluation. The same concepts and methods are used. The same general code of ethics apply. The only significant difference between traditional evaluation and empowerment evaluation is that you turn it on its head. Community members, staff members, and program participants become in charge of their own evaluations. We, as critical friends and empowerment evaluators, serve as coaches helping to keep the evaluation on track, focused, fair, and honest. In essence we help build evaluation capacity and trust that local people in the community will often know best concerning what's working, not working, and the way things should be.

Yes - one of our books highlights how you can facilitate high, medium, and low levels of empowerment and even low levels is better than zero. I am not a purist. I work with folks where they are and if they don't have the skills I work with them to help them develop their capacity. Luckily the 3-step process typically helps them build enough capacity to assess their performance immediately. It is a very simple and intuitive process helping people 1) crystallize their mission or purpose; 2) take stock of their performance in the here and now; and 3) based on their self-assessment, plan for the future with specific goals, and strategies, and evidence. Best wishes. - David

That's why I like to conduct empowerment evaluations in groups. In groups, we can work together, bringing folks along who might be hesitant or heavily socialized in their traditional roles and patterns of behavior.

so power and knowledge in numbers?@@DavidFetterman

Great question. I could write a book about it. Actually, I have - several in fact. My latest book is titled Empowerment Evaluation and Social Justice: Confronting the Culture of Silence and an earlier book is titled Empowerment Evaluation: Knowledge and Tools for Self-assessment, Evaluation Capacity Building, and Accountability. In these books, I describe what happens. First, they are typically entire communities, tribes, non-profits, government agencies, and faith-based organizations. Instead of operating as individuals they interact as groups giving them more power and influence than as individuals. They represent a wedge in our social system. They learn not only to expect but demand their rights. In India, tuberculosis survivors and advocates, receive rights-based training and help sensitize healthcare providers concerning their health needs. In the US food banks use empowerment evaluation to fight for food justice by adopting an equity lens. By bringing "opposing forces" together (such as newly empowered communities and representatives of the existing power structure), a dialogue begins. It is not always pleasant but it helps raise consciousness. In addition, instead of remaining "warring factions" groups find common denominators of self-interest. They are willing to work together on those issues in which they have a vested interest in improving. This is where progress and improvement happen. The process is contagious. Once it takes hold people rarely go back because they learn (often with small wins at first) that they are capable of producing change in their own communities with and if necessary despite the existing power structure. I hope this brief response is helpful. Happy to discuss this in more detail. In the meantime, take a look at the two books I mentioned above for more in-depth discussion and case examples. Thanks again for raising an excellent question.

Yes - that's why we invite a separate set of eyes or peer review in case we are functioning in a bubble. Generally, however, people are tired of working in a setting that is broken so they are eager to speak about the fundamental issues associated with their program. Empowerment evaluation becomes a window of opportunity to fix what's broken in their daily lives.

When I worked in townships in South Africa we only had gum to stick the poster sheets of ratings on the wall. You work with what you have and where people are. Tech tools are great but you don't need them to help a group assess their own performance and plan for the future. Also I tend to help people assess their efforts and plan for the future with the resources they have before asking for more money or resources. Once we build a case for our abilities (accomplishments and/or a track record) and a clear need , then we are in a position to ask for more resources to build on our accomplishments. [Also I note we wrote an earlier book highlighting high, medium, and low levels of empowerment and explained how all of them are better than zero. I hope this is helpful. Best wishes. - David

Thanks for asking. We are doing this across the US and throughout India right now. Take a look at my latest book Empowerment Evaluation and Social Justice: Confronting the Culture of Silence to see how we are doing this work on a large scale. One other book that might be of interest in which we used empowerment evaluation to help bridge the digital divide in communities of color is Empowerment Evaluation and the Digital Villages: Hewlett-Packard's $15 Million Race Toward Social Justice.

Yes - we ensure accountability while promoting self-determination. 1) On one level, there is internal accountability. Empowerment evaluation is inclusive, everyone can speak to the issues and they do. When people are given the opportunity to assess their own performance, they find the findings credible, because they are theirs. An outside person has often less credibility from the community perspective and is often off-target when it comes to core issues associated with the program. People engaged in an empowerment evaluation develop a sense of ownership which contributes to follow-through and sustainability. People hold each other accountable in the community. Peer pressure is powerful. 2) On a second level, empowerment evaluations are conducted within the context of what the group is already being held accountable for or what they promised the sponsor they would accomplish. The external standard or set of requirements still must be met at the end of the day - ensuring external accountability. The 10th principle guiding empowerment evaluation is accountability - did you do it? In these ways accountability is ensured while still promoting self-determination.

We compared our aspirations, like equity, fairness, and justice, with what we saw happening in the program. When we did not think we were being true to our ideals we corrected our behavior and our strategies. When we thought we were being inclusive in our homeless project but found out that we had left a few groups behind because they were outside of our "target" group we connected with another local non-profit to help us reach out to them and get them connected with food and social services.

We all grow together. People in the community continually build their capacity to conduct evaluations, operate their programs, and make their dreams come true (by which I mean accomplish the desire outcomes). Empowerment evaluators grow alongside community members, program staff members, and participants. We learn to let go more and more each day. We help community members play active roles in their own evaluation, facilitate more, collect more complex data, analyze and interpret their own data, and report their own findings. We serve as a safety net and a guide making sure they have as much support as possible, but fundamentally we grow to know they don't need us any more at a certain point in their own development.

Yes, I agree. I like the honesty that comes through empowerment evaluation or community self-assessment. It provides a group check on our individual perceptions and educates us to other ways of seeing the same situation. It also helps us focus on growth, progress, mid-course corrections and reframing the way we see the world.

Hi - sorry for the confusion. I hired an actor (who portrayed Albert Einstein) to help me introduce a new approach to evaluation to my colleagues. He was brilliant. He shared phrases like: "We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them" and "No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it". We were asking people to take a leap of faith and trust in people's innate cognitive abilities to solve their own problems, grounded in their own experience. His presentation helped stimulate conversations that spilled out into the hallways during the conference. We were asking colleagues fundamental questions. We were asking them to question everything they had been taught and long since taken for granted. What is evaluation? What was the purpose of evaluation? Who is in charge? Who are we as evaluators? I hired an actor to help introduce the approach in a lively and engaging manner and it worked. Thanks for asking about it. It was a risk but really paid off in terms of stimulating discussion about a new approach to evaluation at the time.

It bothers me to this day. We stereotype people and confound capacities, particularly kids, equating physical with cognitive disabilities before even trying to speak one word with them.

Yes I am in 100% agreement. People, with assistance, are extraordinarily capable of improving their lives and their communities.