Empowerment Evaluation: Fostering Self-Determination and Sustainability
Our evaluation team is committed to making evaluation a ‘human’ practice. We believe evaluation design should take as much time considering the how (how we work together), as it does the what (what we do and what we deliver). Evaluation should take into consideration multiple needs, perspectives and ideas, empowering all stakeholders (from the communities, delivery partners to the decision makers) to have a say in ‘what good looks like’.
That is why we support an empowerment evaluation approach.
What is empowerment evaluation?
Empowerment evaluation is a stakeholder involvement approach designed to provide groups with the tools and knowledge they need to monitor and evaluate their own performance and accomplish their goals. It focuses on fostering self-determination and sustainability, and recognises the power that comes with being about to communicate and evaluate evidence of change and outcomes.
Empowerment evaluation was introduced in 1993 by David Fetterman. It was designed to shift power from evaluators to program staff and participants, and to ensure a focus on social justice.
It’s collaborative by design, and focused on supporting programme learning and development in a way that encourages self-reflection, as well as co-learning, sharing and production.
What does empowerment evaluation look like?
As an approach there is quite a simple design element:
Step 1: develop a mission and vision
Step 2: collect insight and evidence
Step 3: Taking stock, and collectively make sense of your insight
You then start from step 1 again. It’s about embedding ongoing learning and reflection. At its core are a set of 10 principles:
And it’s applied along two streams:
Practical empowerment is designed to enhance program performance, learning and productivity. It involves multiple partners (program staff, participants, and community members), and the focus is on practical problem solving, as well as programmatic improvements and learning.
Transformative empowerment evaluation is about using the process to empower participants to learn how to take greater control of their narrative and the resources around them. It supports reflective practice which empowers all stakeholders to define and reflect on outcomes. The focus is on liberation from pre-determined, conventional roles. It’s about how we do it and ensuring our approach considers the voice of all partners/ actors.
Why use empowerment evaluation?
Evaluative practice has regularly been criticised for being too extractive and for adding to the burden of busy delivery staff. Empowerment evaluation provides a framework for re-balancing the power dynamics and creating a space to listen and learn. It’s more than a methodology; it’s a philosophy that empowers individuals, groups, and communities to take control of their own development.
Find out more
If you would like to know more about empowerment evaluation and the approaches we take for a range of public, private and third sector organisations and NGOs, please get in touch below.
Doorstep engagement provides a direct and effective way for councils, housing providers, utilities, charities and other public service organisations to reach people in their own communities.
A well-designed doorstep engagement programme can do more than distribute information. It can help organisations understand why people are not using a service, address practical barriers, provide tailored support and encourage lasting behaviour change.
In order to maximise the impact of campaign investment M.E.L Research can test early creative ideas, through to final copies of creative. We can offer feedback on all types of creative including TV, posters, press, online, social media and radio. This can be done using various methodologies depending on the type of feedback needed, and the type of creative.
We specialise in large scale national polling to help policymakers and organisation leaders make informed decisions. Our accurate, reliable, and unbiased insights help to explore public attitudes on a range of social issues.
We have considerable expertise in engaging with residents in order to provide local authorities with an understanding of local priorities, neighbourhood issues and the quality of local service delivery. We are passionate about giving residents a clear voice in shaping services and improving neighbourhoods.
At M·E·L Research we believe that brand strength is built in different ways, but fundamentally being authentic to your brand identity throughout all contact points is essential.
Our dedicated team is poised to offer unparalleled support across various research requirements, adhering strictly to the highest ethical standards, ensuring every project we undertake is trauma-informed and fully integrates Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) principles, and utilising our own in-house team for the full range of fieldwork and analysis approaches.
The M·E·L Research Panel members take part in a variety of qualitative research, including one-to-one interviews, focus groups, and online workshops. Each project explores real-world social issues that matter, covering topics such as health, education, local government, and equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI), plus much more.
We have over 35 years’ experience in running quantitative research studies for a range of public services clients; from residents consultations to health and well-being studies to Survey of Tenants And Residents (STAR) projects amongst others.
M·E·L Research delivered Ripple Effect Mapping (REM) training for Winning Scotland, supporting the rollout of the Planet Youth prevention model across six local authority areas in Scotland. REM focuses on discovering and understanding the impacts or effects of a programme, project or intervention using multiple stakeholders. REM adopts a strengths-based approach and looks at how certain actions or efforts play a role in causing the observed changes. The idea is to identify changes or effects and how an intervention caused them – this approach helps to visually map out the outcomes and impacts of a…
M·E·L Research was commissioned by the Royal British Legion (RBL) to co‑design and deliver a pilot Lived Experience Panel. The pilot aimed to test whether a structured panel of people with lived experience of the Armed Forces community could meaningfully inform RBL’s campaigns, policy and research work. The model was delivered over a short, intensive period to “test and learn” during live organisational strategy projects. The pilot explored feasibility, impact, support needs, and the potential for scaling or embedding the approach. M·E·L Research supported recruitment, developed and delivered all training, and provided…
The Invictus Games is an international multi-sport event for wounded, injured and sick servicemen and servicewomen, both Serving personnel and veterans. The Invictus Games acts as a crucial part of recovery journeys for many from the Armed Forces community and aims to positively focus on what they can achieve post injury or illness, celebrating their fighting spirit, though an inclusive sporting competition that recognises the sacrifice they have made. The Duke of Sussex was inspired to create the Invictus Games after visiting the Warrior Games in…
The evidence presented in our report highlights the significant role that the Housing Enablement Team (HET) plays in supporting timely hospital discharges and preventing delayed transfers of care. Over the last decade, the service has grown substantially, now working with more than 2,000 patients per year, many of whom face complex housing and social challenges that would otherwise prevent a safe and timely discharge.
Analysis of the available data demonstrates that the HET provides a rapid, effective response.
The Children and Young People’s Health Equity Collaborative (CHEC) was a three-year partnership between Barnardo’s, the UCL Institute of Health Equity (IHE), and three Integrated Care Systems (ICSs) – NHS Birmingham and Solihull, NHS Cheshire and Merseyside, and NHS South Yorkshire. Its vision was that all children should enjoy good health and positive wellbeing, reduce child health inequalities and improve the outcomes for CYP from underserved communities by acting on the social determinants of health.
City of Doncaster Council commissioned M·E·L Research to evaluate an alternative provision service for children and young people who were struggling to engage in mainstream education. The alternative provision comprised of two settings (Big Picture Doncaster and Vega College) and was based on the Big Picture Learning philosophy that originated in the US. It is a model of learning that focuses on one student at a time, with small class sizes and a curriculum taught in a way that is centred on the passions and interests of children and young people6. Based on evidence of impact in the US, the Council believed it had the potential to re-engage young people in learning, and ultimately improve their long-term life chances and outcomes.
M·E·L Research was commissioned by the Wales Cancer Network to help assess the outcomes and impact of the all-Wales Rapid Diagnosis Clinics (RDC) programme.
The RDC programme was a national initiative supporting Health Boards in Wales to provide General Practitioners (GPs) with a referral pathway and RDC to investigate vague symptoms that may be caused by cancer. RDCs aimed to:
• Support earlier diagnosis for patients with vague, non-specific symptoms that could be cancer
• Reduce cancer diagnoses via emergency presentations
• Improve overall patient health outcomes by detecting cancer earlier
• Improve patient and GP experience
• Identify and manage other serious non-malignant disease or those at risk of developing serious illness
• Provide reassurance and early discharge for those patients with no, or non-serious disease, thus increasing capacity through appropriate and efficient use of finite services
In March 2023, the NHS Nottingham and Nottinghamshire ICB commissioned M·E·L Research to undertake a process and outcome evaluation to explore and demonstrate how the personalised care approaches in the elective care, pre-op MSK pathway at SFH and the cancer prehab pathway at NUH were being delivered. In order to assist future decision-making and commissioning, understanding the challenges, learnings and impact was key. The evaluation also needed to explore the different approaches adopted by the Link Worker providers, namely PICS and Self Help UK.
Fair Housing Futures (FHF) was funded by the Nationwide Foundation’s Transforming the Private Rented Sector programme. It is a place-based collaborative programme to test and learn from interventions which improve the experience of ‘vulnerable’ people accommodated in Greater Manchester’s PRS. Fair Housing Futures has sought to explore ground-breaking solutions to the issues and barriers that vulnerable people face when private renting. FHF’s ambition is for the private rented sector in Greater Manchester to provide more decent, genuinely affordable homes for people in need.
To support Birmingham City Council in assessing the impact of the Better Mental Health Fund, M·E·L Research was commissioned to carry out an independent evaluation to provide insight into how the projects engaged with people across the city, what the experiences of people were and what the variations in impact were on different types of people. The evaluation also looked to assess the changes and opportunities created as a result of the grant and if projects had been cost effective through a value for money assessment.
Cambridgeshire, Peterborough, and South Lincolnshire Mind (CPSL Mind) has delivered perinatal mental health services since 2013. In 2021, CPSL Mind received funding from the Department of Health and Social Care to design and deliver a new service focusing on the wellbeing needs of pregnant women and new mums from the local Muslim Community in Peterborough. The Starting Well funded programme – Connecting Muslim Mums – was a two-year collaboration between CPSL Mind, The Lantern Initiative and a range of other local community partners.
The programme focused on improving the inclusivity, accessibility and relevance of mental health and wellbeing information in communities. Although the information produced for this programme is open to all, the programme focused on increasing access to relevant information for three priority audiences – children and young people, people experiencing poverty and people that experience racial inequality.
