The dissemination strategy

Effective dissemination of results means that the right people get the right information in a timely manner and in the right format. The overall goal of disseminating results is to encourage others to take action. The underlying principles of communicating and disseminating results are:

§  Focus on action!

§  Study audience background, needs, interests, concerns, and plans.

§  Simplify your message: key points only!

§  Report in many different ways: written products, personal briefings, meetings, seminars, workshops, and videotape.

§  Look for chances to report results. Be aggressive, don’t be afraid to spread the word about your findings!

Elements of an effective dissemination strategy

DESIRED OUTCOME / Focus on action! What do you want to happen? / Do you need to persuade a donor to support a programme, or continue doing so? Or do you need to convince project implementers about the need for a change in strategy? Do you need to gain feedback from the community involved? Do you want to create greater ownership by certain stakeholders/
AUDIENCE / Who do you need to reach?
§  Wide outreach (Involvement of all key stakeholders)
§  Focused message (tailored for the audience) / It is important to identify clearly who will need to know and to use the results and to tailor the message accordingly.
A commitment to ongoing dialogue and interactive forms of communication will increase ownership and motivation to act on recommendations, making it easier to answer the most pressing questions that M&E activities raise.
Communication might take various forms, the critical point is to involve everyone who will need the results in ongoing discussions about how best to communicate the progress of M&E activities.
MESSAGE, PURPOSE
/ For each audience, what do they need to know?
§  Findings and conclusions (what depth?)
§  Lessons (which ones?)
§  Recommendations (which ones?)
Simplify! / Be clear about your findings and conclusions, lessons, recommendations and what you want to achieve by disseminating them to the audience.
Most audiences need simple and direct information that everyone can understand, not only in terms of the problem, but also what actions to take in response to it.
Stay away from abstract research jargon and explain what is learned: what measures need to be taken, how and why; how and why the programme did or didn’t work.
MEDIUM/ FORMAT / For each group/ message, what medium fits best?
§  Choice of media
§  Style and format Presentation methods / A report is not the only way to present your message! Choose a medium and format that fits the audience and message,
from informal communication theatre, drama) to highly structured types of information exchange shared databases); from mass media (radio) to narrowly focused channels one-to-one meetings); from one-way to participatory communications.
TIMING / When should the results be disseminated? / For your results to be effective, they must be shared at the right time, for example, consultation and debriefing during the data collection and analysis process with key stakeholders.
RESOURCES / What resources are available/ required to disseminate M&E results? / The availability of resources (financial, time, human) will also need to be considered to determine what approaches can be used and what audiences can be reached and how. Dissemination should be integrated in the budget.
CAUTION! / What are the possible dangers or negative effects of dissemination? / Be aware of the potential problems that may arise — particularly in crisis and unstable contexts. (But do not let them stop you from sharing your findings!)
When planning your dissemination strategy, consider:
§  The sensitivity of your findings (Are they likely to upset people? Are they culturally acceptable? Could they “do harm”?)
§  The suitability of the audiences (Are you reaching the right people? Excluding anyone form the process? Putting anyone at risk by revealing sensitive issues?)
§  The appropriateness of your communication strategy (Are you using the right media/channels of communication at the right time, for the right people?).

The audience

WIDE OUTREACH
Who should be targeted and why?
Devise a dissemination strategy
that targets all relevant stakeholders. /
FOCUSED MESSAGE
What do people want/need to know?
Choose correct message, medium, format
and timing for different audiences.
Who needs to get the results, why, when, and how?

§  Who are the audiences?

§  What are their concerns likely to be?

§  What questions will they ask?

§  How will the audience respond to what is communicated?

Audience
/ Role in M&E and follow-up / Which results they need to get and why / How they can get the results and when
Community not directly involved in programme / Plays a small part (e.g. answers questionnaires) / Summary of results to create support for the programme / Meetings, discussions, mass media, pictures, newsletters.
(During and after)
Community directly involved in programme / Plays a part in planning and carrying out M&E / Full results and recommendations to help put them into action / By participating in evaluation, meetings, study of results, mass media, pictures, newsletters.
(During and after)
Programme staff / Co-ordinates and facilitates community decision-making and action / Full results and recommendations to help put them into action / Through participation in meetings, study or report.
(During and after)
District-level departments, agencies, organisations / Receive information, disseminate lessons, support future action / Full results or summary only for analysis of lessons learned and policy decision-making / Full report or summary Discussions with evaluation co-ordinators.
(After)
Regional-level agencies and departments / Receive information, disseminate lessons, support future action / Same as district-level / Summary through discussions and meetings.
(After)
National-level ministries, agencies, organisations / Receive information, disseminate lessons, support future action / Full results or summary analysis of lessons learned for policy- making / Full report plus summary discussions.
(After)
External funding agencies / Receive information, disseminate lessons, support future action / Full results for analysis of lessons learned and policy-making / Full report plus summary discussions.
(After)
International agencies / Receive information, help disseminate lessons, support future action / Full results for lessons learned and policy- making / Summary through discussions, meetings, networking.
(After)

The choice of medium

Carefully consider the message to be conveyed. It can consist of a combination of the following, according to the purpose, the audience, etc. For example, a monitoring system will often simply convey findings, but an evaluation can produce lessons learned.

Dissemination: when?

Feedback to users, during and after
Dissemination: DURING
Share with those stakeholders who can help refine and clarify your findings.
Share to prepare stakeholders for very significant or controversial results.
Share to give internal stakeholders a chance to introduce early follow-up action and prepare a response if major problems are uncovered. /
Dissemination: AFTER
Sharing M/E results is obviously more aggressive and widespread after the exercise is completed.
Sharing M/E results may be limited to afterwards when the data analysis is completed; when the need of objectivity and of providing factual and solid data and information is paramount.

The importance of debriefing in evaluation

An early debriefing is one that takes place before a final report is ready. It usually takes place in the field rather than in a formal reporting session.

Debriefing will have to be preliminary because the report will not be final and UNICEF will not yet have reviewed it. Still, it can provide the project/programme staff and other relevant personnel an opportunity to comment on the report.

The tone of the presentation could be, "These are some of the things we have found. Do they fit with your perception? Are you considering any changes we should know about? Are you struck by any results we may have missed?"


A debriefing session should be focused on three broad headings:

§  Accomplishments

§  Continuing problems

§  Recommendations.

Adequate time should be allotted to give those at the debriefing a chance to respond to discussions about all three areas.

Sources: OECD/DAC (2001). Evaluation Feedback for Effective Learning and Accountability. http://www.oecd.org/pdf/M00021000/M00021485.pdf CHECK OTHER SOURCES

UNICEF M&E Training Resource Module 7.3.1 The Dissemination Strategy Page 1/4