Evaluating Systems Change - Design This post is a response to "How Might We Zoom Out to Evaluating With a Systemic View?" Read more of the conversation here. Much of the work we do in the philanthropic and nonprofit sectors is about changing systems to accelerate social progress. By its very definition, a system is an arrangement (pattern, design) of parts which interact with each other within the system's boundaries (form, structure, organization) to function as a whole. At FSG Social Impact Advisors, we have become increasingly involved in evaluating initiatives that involve multiple sites and varied project implementation strategies. What is the system? Some wonderful folks from the Ball Foundation, who partner with mid-size urban school districts committed to transforming schooling and learning, take a systems view of their work and the evaluation of it. Evaluating with a systems perspective also means being intentional about the learning throughout an evaluation process.
Principles of Management 2.0 - Hackathon Navigator Red Hat Open source strategy As an open source company, Red Hat open-sourced its strategic planning, involving all employees to make sure they discovered the best ideas and kept the conversation going. Employees have the freedom and accountability to drive and execute the strategy within the company. Further reading MIX: Democratizing corporate strategy at Red Hat Wikimedia 1000 volunteers build a strategic plan Wikimedia enlisted a group of 1000+ volunteers to co-create its 5year strategic plan. Instead of chaos, the volunteers created a focused, actionable strategic plan that everyone bought into – because they were part of the process. Further reading MIX: Strategic planning the Wikimedia way Rite-Solutions An internal market where employees invest in ideas Crowdsourcing is part of Rite-Solution's culture. New ideas and resource allocation are done with an internal "Stock Market" where all ideas compete equally.
Canadian Obesity Stats 2012 Obesity has been linked with m any chronic diseases, including hypertension, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, osteoarthritis and certain types of cancer.Note 1 To assess the health risks of obesity, the World Health Organization and Health Canada use guidelines based on Body Mass IndexNote 2 (BMI), a measure that examines weight in relation to height. BMI is defined as weight in kilograms divided by the square of the height in meters (Table 1). In 2012, 18.4% of Canadians aged 18 and older, roughly 4.7 million adults, reported height and weight that classified them as obese. In 2012, 41.3% of men and 26.9% of women reported height and weight that classified them as overweight. When those who were classified as obese were combined with those who were overweight, 59.9% (7.7 million) of men and 45.0% (5.8 million) of women had an increased health risk because of excess weight. Description for Chart 1 In the 35 to 44 age group, significantly more men than women were obese. End notes
The WWW Conference : Improvised Conversations. Intellectual Jazz Obesity and Overweight for Professionals: Data and Statistics: Adult Obesity - DNPAO - CDC More than one-third (34.9% or 78.6 million) of U.S. adults are obese. [Read abstract Journal of American Medicine (JAMA)] Obesity-related conditions include heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes and certain types of cancer, some of the leading causes of preventable death. [Read guidelines] The estimated annual medical cost of obesity in the U.S. was $147 billion in 2008 U.S. dollars; the medical costs for people who are obese were $1,429 higher than those of normal weight. Obesity affects some groups more than others [Read abstract Journal of American Medicine (JAMA)] Non-Hispanic blacks have the highest age-adjusted rates of obesity (47.8%) followed by Hispanics (42.5%), non-Hispanic whites (32.6%), and non-Hispanic Asians (10.8%) Obesity is higher among middle age adults, 40-59 years old (39.5%) than among younger adults, age 20-39 (30.3%) or adults over 60 or above (35.4%) adults. Obesity and socioeconomic status Top of Page
About IdeaFestival What is IdeaFestival? Founded in 2000, IdeaFestival is a celebration for the intellectually curious. It’s an eclectic network of global thinkers and one-of-a-kind innovators bound together by an intense curiosity about what is impacting and shaping the future of the arts, business, technology, design, science, philosophy and education. The content of IdeaFestival is as diverse as the network itself – presentations range from discussions about life before life to the existence of parallel universes; from global politics to the philosophy of randomness; from disruptive innovation to living to be 250 and beyond. The Festival is held every Fall in Louisville, Kentucky at The Kentucky Center for the Performing Arts, a beautiful and historic venue that houses artworks by such 20th century masters as Joan Miró, Jean Dubuffet, Louise Nevelson, John Chamberlain and Alexander Calder. Who Attends IdeaFestival? Who Speaks at IdeaFestival? Creating Disruptive Change What is IF University?
Systems Concepts and Tools provide training and consultancy support in the use of systems concepts in evaluation. This includes the material below, workshops, evaluation design, and one-on-one mentoring and advice. Contact me for more details about what I can do for you and your work. Why? Because I believe strongly that the systems field can contribute strongly to the development of the evaluation field. How so ? The systems field comprises methodologies, methods and tools that are deeply evaluative. For me, systems concepts provide me with very powerful ways of exploring inter-relationships, perspectives and boundaries. •Inter-relationships are the key to understanding how programs behave. More than evaluation, the systems field has thought deeply about these three concepts and come up with approaches that can transform the way in which evaluation does its job. The material in this section indicates what is possible and how people have used systems concepts in evaluation. The methods are : Causal Loop Diagrams
Workshop Materials for How to Write a Successful Fellowship/Scholarship Application Dear Colleagues I have conducted a number of workshops for students in various contexts about how to write a successful fellowship application. For the workshops I have put together a short-power point presentation that provides some key tips and strategies for developing an effective proposal, and also some key fellowship resources. Some additional key resources for proposal writing include A short summary is below: This presentation is designed to provide key resources on how to obtain students can obtain fellowships and scholarships for study and research. Feel free to add your own suggestions/resources.