Recently, I have started to visit a number of schools in the Cuttack and Kendrapara districts. Though not without their bumps and rough edges, the visits have been interesting and informative.
I began the process a number of weeks ago by drafting a theory of change model with the staff (as a group). After making changes and finalizing the logic model, we settled on a process evaluation as the most appropriate type of evaluation for this stage of the program (given the fact that it is too early to carry out an impact evaluation). Last Saturday, I began systematic school visits.
At the schools, I am conducting focus groups and observing classes taught by teachers who have undergone training. One of the biggest hurdles thus far has been the language barrier during the focus groups. Since I unfortunately do not speak Oriya and many teachers are unaccustomed to an American accent, I spend several minutes simply trying to communicate the question. Thus, I have come up with a few strategies intended to make the focus group process a little bit smoother, such as translating questions in Oriya and handing them out to teachers.
Despite the communication gap, I have gleaned quite useful information from the focus groups.
Marina Yakhnis,
Clinton Fellow, (AMAT)
DE Orissa
No comments:
Post a Comment