The Accord Research Alliance Podcast

The ARA Steering Committee met to debrief their 2023 ARA Intensive on Spiritual Metrics. The team discusses their key takeaways and reflections of the day.

Dr. Jayakumar Christian, author of "God of the Empty-handed: Poverty, Power, and the Kingdom of God" was the keynote speaker of the 2022 Accord Research Alliance Intensive. This podcast is a recording of his talk, with an introduction from Dr. David Bronkema.

Dr. Drew Hart, author, activist and professor of theology and the Bible at Messiah University and Rodney Green, Senior Manager of Monitoring and Evaluation at Compassion International, have a conversation about the theological foundation to resist perpetuating colonial legacies in the data journey. One framework introduced is “decolonization”, a term that refers to approaches and methodologies of acquiring and leveraging data in a way that better honors and shares power with communities on whom these limits have been placed and/or that have been historically oppressed, enables them to control their information and use data to tell their own story, and that helps dismantle mutually dehumanizing colonial paradigms and practices that have affected their history and current realities. As the conversation is only an introduction, alternative frameworks working towards a similar aim of greater love and justice for those marginalized are not discussed, though we hope the conversation can spark helpful steps to engage in deeper learning and strengthening humanizing and liberating practices around data. To learn more about Dr. Drew Hart, his books, and his podcast “Inverse”, visit: https://drewgihart.com/ and https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/inverse-podcast/id1358332600

Emilie Jackson joins the podcast to talk with Nathan Mallonee about the listening work HOPE International does in their microfinance institutions. Their listening practice is geared toward helping them design new microfinance products and services for their clients. Emilie also goes into depth about one particular tool they use for quicker feedback—the Net Promoter Score—and how they modified it for clients in the countries they work in. For more information about HOPE International, visit www.hopeinternational.org. To find out more about the Accord Research Alliance, and to register for the 2022 OneAccord Forum, visit www.accordnetwork.org. Emilie's book recommendation is: Ghosts in the Schoolyard by Eve L. Ewing. https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/G/bo27506579.html To find out more about Emilie's work at HOPE, you can contact her at ejackson@hopeinternational.org.

Rhett Bailey and Nathan Mallonee from Living Water International share their experience applying rapid testing and experimentation to inform the organization’s strategy development process. The approach — based in design thinking — produced data insights and fostered a discernment process to inform a strategic direction for an organization working in 17 countries. The conversation covers the basics of the approach, how the implementation of the rapid testing was managed, and lessons learned along the way. Notes: Register for the Accord Research Alliance annual intensive in October 2022: https://accordnetwork.org/oneaccord-2022/ Playing to Win Methodology: https://hbr.org/books/playing-to-win Testing Business Ideas: https://www.strategyzer.com/books/testing-business-ideas-david-j-bland

Rodney Green interviews Allan Kakinda, Senior Manager of Innovation and M&E at Compassion International, about integrating and utilizing different types of evidence in M&E design –generating unique insights for decision-making. Lean Impact by Ann Mei Chang is mentioned, with a helpful review here: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/book-review-lean-impact-ann-mei-chang-thoughts-science-brown/ Do More Be More podcast is here: https://open.spotify.com/show/1gGDrmGybvBsoYUdQoXvIs To connect with Allan, please visit his Linkedin and Twitter page: https://www.linkedin.com/in/akakinda/ https://twitter.com/alkakinda

This episode is the conversation with Pete Howard, Leadership Consultant with Christian Relief, Development and Advocacy organization hosted by Dr. Subodh Kumar, Chief Data Officer with World Vision International. This conversation touches upon the three theological virtues of Beauty, Goodness and Truth and its importance to Christian Relief, Development and Advocacy organization. In this broken world, through our M&E work we are witness through our relationships and work of God’s beauty, goodness and truth.

Lincoln Lau is back on the podcast! Nathan Mallonee interviews Lincoln, who is the director of research at International Care Ministries (ICM) in the Philippines. ICM has been conducting different RCTs in partnership with Innovations for Poverty Action, and Lincoln comes back to talk to us since they published the results of their first RCT and how they’re using RCTs today. To find out more about ICM, visit: https://www.caremin.com Book recommendation: Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer by Siddhartha Mukherjee

Nathan Mallonee interviews Nell Becker Sweeden and Zekarias Asfaw from Nazarene Compassionate Ministries (NCM) about their global COVID-19 response and a recent evaluation they conducted. For more information about NCM, you can visit: https://www.ncm.org To register for the upcoming OneAccord forum on Oct 19-21, visit: https://accordnetwork.org

Rodney Green talks with Dr. Subodh Kumar, Chief Data Officer from World Vision International, about how to view and utilize data through a Jesus-centered way, or in other words, from a Kingdom perspective, where data is a way to listen to and meet with God as revealed in Jesus. Contact Subodh with questions at: mamtasubodh1702@gmail.com or https://www.linkedin.com/in/subodh-kumar-ph-d-74409616/ Toward Laying the Foundation for Christ-Centered Monitoring and Evaluation: https://crdajournal.org/index.php/crda/article/view/417

Nathan Mallonee talks with Michelle Wijaya, Will Kendall, and Vicky Madzure from HOPE International's Savings Group team about developing their theory of change. HOPE SG Theory of Change Visual Summary: https://hopeinternational.box.com/HOPESGTOCVisual HOPE SG Theory of Change Detailed Visual : https://hopeinternational.box.com/HOPESGTOCDetail HOPE SG Theory of Change Resource Guide: https://hopeinternational.box.com/HOPESGTOCRESOURCE Also, Will has clarified that there are over 7,500 churches that have been equipped through HOPE's Savings Group program. To get in touch with Michelle Wijaya, you can email her at: MWijaya@Hopeinternational.org

Kristen Check interviews Alistair Sim, Principle Scientific Advisor, Monitoring, Evaluation, Research & Learning, at Compassion International. Innovations for Poverty Action/JPAL(causational attribution): https://www.povertyactionlab.org/person/duflo. Self-assessment tool and group facilitation: http://www.grahambodie.com/ Evidence-based journalism: https://theconversation.com/us Contact Alistair: Alsim@us.ci.org atrsim@gmail.com https://www.linkedin.com/in/alistairsim/

Mary Kay Gugerty discusses her book, The Goldilocks Challenge: Right-Fit Evidence for the Social Sector, with co-host Nathan Mallonee. Professor Gugerty studies nonprofit performance and accountability systems and teaches public policy to master's students at the Evans School of Public Policy at the University of Washington. Topics include: + why we need to be careful about how we use the term "impact" + when an organization should NOT consider doing impact evaluations + what you should do if you aren't doing impact evaluations (and why organizations should prioritize getting robust output and immediate outcome data) + how to apply the CART (credible, actionable, responsible, and transportable) principles to your monitoring & evaluation work + why you need a performance framework (or a theory of change) to make your data actionable + how to know when you have a "right-fit evidence system" Links: The Goldilocks Challenge book: https://www.poverty-action.org/right-fit-evidence/book/the-goldilocks-challenge Right Fit Evidence website: https://www.poverty-action.org/right-fit-evidence Professor Gugerty's website: https://evans.uw.edu/profile/mary-kay-gugerty/ Recommended books: Measuring Social Change by Alnoor Ebrahim: https://www.sup.org/books/title/?id=27990 Between Power and Irrelevance: The Future of Transnational NGOs: https://global.oup.com/academic/product/between-power-and-irrelevance-9780190084721?cc=us&lang=en&

Last week (October 5-9), we held our sixth annual (and first virtual) intensive. This year it was all online and focused on the theme of "Cultivating a Christ-Centered, Data-Informed, and Responsive Organization: Listening in your M&E Practice." In this special episode, the steering committee talks with each other about the highlights of the week and what they learned along the way. For more information about the Accord Research Alliance, visit: www.accordnetwork.org/ara If you want to find out more about how to get involved or have ideas for future podcasts, email us at ara@accordnetwork.org. Steering Committee Members on today's call: -Kristen Check, Compassion International (co-chair) -Rodney Green, Compassion International (co-chair) -Nathan Mallonee, Living Water International (co-chair) -David Bronkema, Eastern University -Stephen Offutt, Asbury Theological Seminary -Rebecca Mentzer, HOPE International -Subodh Kumar, Food for the Hungry

In this special episode, we are playing Dr. Olivia Wilkinson's keynote speech from the 2019 Accord Research Intensive as a way to promote the upcoming 2020 Research Intensive. If you haven't registered yet, the deadline is Thursday, October 1. https://accordnetwork.regfox.com/oneaccord-research To watch a video of Olivia's presentation, go to: https://vimeo.com/showcase/7552959

Today one of our co-hosts goes on the other side of the mic. Kristen Check interviews Nathan Mallonee about why your organization should have a Theory of Change. Nathan provides details about the process he led at Living Water for developing a Theory of Change and the lessons learned along the way. You can read Living Water's Theory of Change here: http://livingwater.box.com/toc This podcast was actually recorded in 2019, but this topic is more relevant than ever during Covid-19 as outlined in this article from Better Evaluation: https://www.betterevaluation.org/en/blog/adapting-evaluation-time-covid-19-%E2%80%94-part-2-define Other resources include: Think NPC's Theory of Change in 10 Steps: https://www.thinknpc.org/resource-hub/ten-steps/ DFID's review of Theories of Change: http://www.theoryofchange.org/pdf/DFID_ToC_Review_VogelV7.pdf And you can find out more about Nathan at http://nathanmallonee.com

In this episode, Rodney Green speaks with Dr. Jamie Aten from the Humanitarian Disaster Institute (HDI) about a wide range of inter-connected topics including faith, resilience, and approaches to better understanding and measuring spiritual fortitude in the midst of personal and shared suffering, racial injustice, and the covid-19 pandemic. Resources from HDI on the Measure of Spiritual Fortitude, Leadership Humility, Post-traumatic growth: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/331603591_Development_and_Validation_of_a_Measure_of_Spiritual_Fortitude https://www.researchgate.net/publication/341577750_Why_Leader_Humility_is_Vital_to_Effective_Humanitarian_Aid_Leadership_A_Review_of_the_Literature https://www.researchgate.net/publication/309222416_Cultural_Humility_and_Hospital_Safety_Culture https://www.researchgate.net/publication/254320192_Resource_loss_religiousness_health_and_posttraumatic_growth_following_Hurricane_Katrina Dr. Jamie Aten’s book “A Walking Disaster: What Surviving Katrina and Cancer Taught Me about Faith and Resilience”: http://www.jamieaten.com/a-walking-disaster HDI website: https://www.wheaton.edu/academics/academic-centers/humanitarian-disaster-institute/ The conversation between Rodney and Dr. Aten briefly introduces the systemic nature and sin of white supremacy, racism, and racial injustice, and important voices to listen to in order to go deeper can include: Dr. Drew Hart. “Trouble I’ve Seen: Changing the Way the Church Views Racism” https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01CF1TR1Y/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1 Dr. Ibram Kendi. “How to Be an Antiracist” https://www.ibramxkendi.com/how-to-be-an-antiracist-1 Mark Charles. “Unsettling Truths: The Ongoing, Dehumanizing Legacy of the Doctrine of Discovery” https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07V7ZXT1R/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1 Rev. Rene August. “How to Decolonize the Bible” [Webinar On Demand] https://freedomroad.us/freedom-road-institute-for-leadership-justice/decolonizing-the-bible/ Also, “The Aid Sector Must Do More to Tackle its White Supremacy Problem” https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2020/jun/15/the-aid-sector-must-do-more-to-tackle-its-white-supremacy-problem Equitable Evaluation Framework: https://www.equitableeval.org/ee-framework

The ARA podcast is back today talking about (what else?) COVID-19. Nathan Mallonee talks with Rebecca Mentzer and Rodney Green about how different organizations within Accord are responding to COVID-19, especially as it relates to our work to "measure what matters." Resources mentioned in the podcast are available at https://accordnetwork.org/resources/covid-19-resources/ Connect with us through LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/4362102/ Special thanks to Daniel Schmidt for producing today's podcast.

Today's podcast was recorded live from the 2019 Accord Research Alliance intensive. It provides a recap and analysis of the day from David Bronkema, Kristen Check, Rodney Green, and Nathan Mallonee. To get connected to the Accord Research Alliance and find out more about next year's intensive, email us at ara@accordnetwork.org.

Dr. Steve Offutt presents on research he and others have conducted on Christian ideas for development, understanding the current theories, networks, and priorities of Accord member organizations.