Tips
Module 8: Using Findings
Different Kinds of Reports
Technical reports: Detailed report on a single issue, such as a small study on one or two sample groups. It can be given at a staff meeting or as part of a larger report.
Best for: funding agencies, program administrators, advisory committees
Executive summary: A few pages, usually at the beginning of a longer report, which outlines a study's major findings and recommendations.
Best for: funding agencies, program administrators, board members and trustees, program staff, advisory committees, political bodies, program service providers (technicians, teachers, etc.)
Technical professional paper: A detailed article that summarizes information for a scientific or other technical audience. It usually contains information about what is done, how to do it, what worked and what did not work and why.
Best for: program administrators, advisory committees, organizations interested in program content
Popular article: An article written with the target audience of the medium in mind. Some magazines and papers target specific populations. It normally contains more information than a press release, but focuses on two or three quick points.
Best for: program administrators, board members and trustees, program staff, political bodies, community groups, current clients, potential clients, program service providers, organizations interested in program content
News release and/or press conference: A gathering with the media done for the purpose of releasing specific information.
Best for: program administrators, the media, wide distribution of simplified information
Public meeting: A gathering that's open to the general public where more general evaluation findings are released in a clear, simple manner, usually with some time set aside for open discussion.
Best for: community groups, current clients, the media
Media appearance: Different from a press release in that this incorporates some sort of staged event--for example, a local author doing a public reading to highlight awareness about a study on adult literacy.
Best for: current clients, the media
Staff workshop: A more interactive, working presentation for your group or coalition's staff and volunteers.
Best for: program administrators, program staff, program service providers
Brochures/posters: Brief, simply-worded printed materials that can be distributed and mailed to various outlets in the community. Needs to focus on one quick point.
Best for: potential clients
Memo: A short letter circulated internally among program staff.
Best for: program administrators, program staff, program service providers
Personal discussion: Sitting down face-to-face to discuss evaluation findings with an individual or small group.
Best for: funding agencies, program administrators, program staff, program service providers
General Guidelines for All Presentations
- Know your audience, particularly in terms of what they think about the more sensitive issues you may have been addressing.
- Present what you think they will be interested in, i.e., is relevant to their information needs
- Enlist advice of someone from that audience who knows the evaluation process, who can look over your presentation and help you focus it for that sector
- Think about what this group will eventually do with this information and target your information accordingly
- Gear the amount of data to the interests and needs of your audience; less is usually better
- Help the audience understand what you want them to learn
- Make it easy for them to follow your report or presentation
- Define new terms and avoid technical jargon
- Explain the key concepts such as gender equity and empowerment if the audience is unfamiliar with them
- Tell the audience what your presentation or report will consist of from the outset, and then follow the outline you have laid out
- Keep it simple and personal
- Present it in ways that will be meaningful to the audience
- Do not spend too much time describing your methodology but have it on hand in a short synthetic handout or attachment
- Present the important findings and give an interpretation or conclusions and recommendations as close to the findings as possible
- Unless you are presenting to an academic audience, assume your audience does not want to read much
- Include testimonies and quotes that illustrate the points you are making
- Combine the data with stories that are honest and short including only the essential information to make the point you want to make or that cover the key aspects of your work. Stories can describe real cases of:
- people your program has helped
- staff who have changed their approaches when they went through training or other program interventions, and
- people whose needs could be met by a new or expanded program you want to implement
- Always protect the confidentiality of informants. This may require:
- using fabricated names or
- grouping the data in ways so that the identity of organizations or people cannot be identified. and
- obtaining permission from the people before using photos
- Find strategic and positive ways of presenting negative, controversial and/or sensitive findings, such as when:
- the project is shown as ineffective
- findings give fodder to the opposition, and/or
- findings relate to topics that are illegal/taboo/risky
To do this:
- Make sure you understand the findings well before making them public, and that your analyses are absolutely impeccable. (You may want to have them reviewed by outside experts.)
- Report such findings first to your most sympathetic and supportive stakeholders so they can help you decide how to approach others who are likely to be more difficult or unsupportive. (click for What to Do Before Presenting Negative, Controversial and/or Sensitive Findings on doing this)
- Always try to learn from your findings. Remember all evaluation results are of interest and will teach you something.
- Use your monitoring data to interpret your findings (see Module 7) before making them public
- Use your causal pathway to describe the way any partial results you did achieve are expected to lead to the more ambitious intermediate or final results that you may not have reached yet
- Describe any mid-course corrections that the findings encouraged you to make
- Describe the significance of the findings from the point of view of what you learned about the gender system, rights issues, healthy sexuality, difficulties reaching and serving marginalized populations, and quality of care
- Lead with positive interpretations of controversial findings, and provide the context in which they occurred, so that it becomes more difficult for your opposition to use against you unfairly
- Acknowledge the limitations of the methodology you used up front
Suggestions for Fundraising: Approaching and Reporting to Donors
- You are always the best people to seek the funding. Don’t farm it out to anyone else. Especially now that you have undertaken your M&E process, you know the program better than anyone else and can make the best case for it.
- Review the donors who support projects in SRHR. Identify:
- which ones support projects in your region or country
- what they fund
- what they are interested in, and
- what groups similar to yours they are supporting
- Once you have identified donors who look like they fit your interests, find out:
- what they are really looking for.
- who the program officer is
- what their program guidelines are
- Make sure you know what your agency wants to do, and situate it within the framework of the funder’s interests.
Important: Don’t decide on a program only because a funder is supporting that kind of work unless it fits your agency’s interests also.
- Once you have figured out what the donor wants, then sell your program in terms of what the donor wants to achieve and what the donor is interested in. And then tell them what else you will be able to achieve through other aspects of your work.
- First send a letter of inquiry of no more than 3 pages (unless they stipulate a larger page limit). Make a concise pitch:
- linking your work to their interests
- telling them what you would be producing or achieving
- briefly how you would make this happen and
- telling them why your agency or program is the one to do the job best
- Get to know the donor, visiting if possible, and certainly through phone contact.
- Use the donor’s formats, suggested approaches, and language for easy comprehension.
- Write a proposal that is short and concise:
- executive summary
- establish the need for your program as different from other programs
- explain what is unique about your program or team
- make it enjoyable to read
Important: Do not use jargon, and make sure you format it well to show that you care about details.
- When discussing your proposal with a donor, listen carefully to what he or she wants, and negotiate to provide the donor with what they want, while also doing what you know is needed.
- Once you are funded, keep the donor informed about how your program is going.
- Send the donor products as they are produced
- Invite the donor to participate in your future M&E processes and to visit the program
- Write complete, timely and interesting reports that include testimonials and stories; but that are short and to the point.
Making Oral Presentations
Important: Use visual aids – do not expect your audience to read dense text on slides!
Present the objectives of your presentation; maybe even your conclusions, to keep the audience focused on the messages you want to convey.
Select your material carefully. You can only present a small number – usually a maximum of three- messages in a short oral presentation (e.g. 5-20 minutes).
Present the findings on a poster board or slide – that is easy to read from the vantage point of your audience. Have paper copies of these slides on hand to distribute either as handouts or to use for the presentation if you are meeting in a small intimate venue.
Gear your visual presentation of the results to the comprehension level of your audience, and try to visually illustrate new concepts wherever possible.
Involve the audience by:
- asking questions rather than you lecturing
- finding out first what they are most interested in learning about gearing your presentation to their interests
What to Do Before Presenting Negative, Controversial and/or Sensitive Findings
Consult with your most supportive stakeholders:
- Make sure your findings are solid i.e. correct any errors and check them with experts who may find errors in your analysis.
- Be open about any possible problems with data collection or the instruments used that could have led or contributed to confusing or negative results.
- Ask the stakeholders if they think factors related to gender norms, peer pressure, the threat of violence or fear of discrimination inhibited the change you were hoping to achieve.
Consult with colleagues who are as committed to solving the same problems as you are. They may be able to assist you in many different ways:
- Invite colleagues to help you strategize about the best way to discuss your findings. After all, they likely have stakeholders and donors similar to yours.
- Be as honest as possible with colleague agencies, so that you can help each other meet the overall goals we share in the SRH field.
If you learn lessons about things that definitely don’t work, share those with colleague agencies as honestly as possible.
Writing a Final Report
Often evaluation findings are presented in the form of a final report written so that it can be distributed to a wide variety of audiences. It can be a short document summarizing the evaluation findings with a technical appendix for those who are interested.
Important: Don't be afraid of sounding too elementary - anyone who wants more detailed information can look in the appendix.
A report should contain the following topics:
- A brief overview of the organization’s/program’s goals and objectives
- The questions the evaluation was trying to answer
- Brief description of the methods used to conduct the evaluation including stakeholder participation (details should go in an attachment)
- Key Findings relevant to the audience’s information needs
- Illustrate your findings with personal stories or testimonies from people who benefited from the program and from stakeholders
- Implications of the findings for
- the program
- efforts to solve the SRHR problem the program has been addressing
- your organization
- the broader field of SRHR
- Conclusions and next steps (justified through evaluation findings)
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