Over the course of the past 9 months, Global Brigades has worked to revolutionize our approach to sustainable development. Under the direction of Johanna Chapin, Director of Community Research and Evaluation, GB has implemented a new system to research, document, and analyze the needs of rural communities in Honduras. This community-based research has allowed GB to strategically prioritize and select the communities in which we will be working based on a set of consistent health and socioeconomic-based criteria in addition to the capacity of communities to collaborate in a holistic model of development that incorporates multiple GB programs.
Our efforts to integrate research and evaluation as a core component of our organizational mission is a direct response to our students’ requests for more information about the communities we work in and data on the impact of our programs. This new model not only allows GB to work in communities with the greatest need and to document impact over time, but also provides our organization with a new level of legitimacy. By implementing best practices in the fields of international health and sustainable development and incorporating strategic planning models, like logical frameworks and monitoring and evaluation plans, as is standard practice for major NGOs, Global Brigades is clearly positioning itself as a leader in the field.
The Research and Evaluation team has already reached 97 out of 120 communities we work with to conduct community health needs assessments through key informant interviews in addition to gathering local health center statistics. This information has allowed for creating community profiles for you as students to learn more about the communities where you will be working (click here for community profiles). Also, throughout this process, Global Brigades has been able to prioritize communities of high-need and high-collaboration and develop a list of these high-need priority communities in which GB will be working over the course of the next 5 years. In selected priority communities, the R&E team will be carrying out community baseline studies (via household demographic and health surveys, as well as community forums). This information will allow us to understand the current health and socioeconomic status of the community today and then equip us to see the quantitative and qualitative impact of our programs in the community 3 to 5 years down the line.
GB’s Research and Evaluation work will improve our ability to target communities with the greatest need and will allow us to tailor programs to meet the specific needs of individual communities. Global Brigades is excited to launch in this new direction and we look forward to providing brigaders with both hard numbers and personal testimonies on the impact of their work over the coming years.
