Disclaimer:
Please be aware that the content herein has not been peer reviewed. It consists of personal reflections, insights, and learnings of the contributor(s). It may not be exhaustive, nor does it aim to be authoritative knowledge.
Overview
Prepared by (Name of the experimenter)
Javier Brolo and María Inés Castañeda
On date (Day/Month/Year)
April 16th, 2021
Current status of experimental activity
Completed
What portfolio does this activity correspond to? If any
Co-creation of waste management solutions
What is the frontier challenge does this activity responds to?
How to improve the collaboration between society and public institutions to increase resilience to climate change
What is the learning question(from your action learning plan) is this activity related to?
How to improve waste management
Please categorize the type that best identifies this experimental activity:
Pre Experimental (trial and error, prototype, a/b testing)
Which sector are you partnering with for this activity? Please select all that apply
Public Sector, Civil Society/ NGOs
Please list the names of partners mentioned in the previous question:
Secretariat of Information and Technology; Local Universities in Cobán, Alta Verapaz
Design
What is the specific learning intent of the activity?
We wanted to test five interventions during an event that sought to engage citizens in an exercise about innovation for development. These interventions were implemented in sequence with the intention to increase the participation of citizens during the event. We wanted to learn if greeting in the local language would increase a feeling of being appreciated; also, if requesting information about the interests of the audience would help make the contents more relevant; if people are more comfortable reporting behaviors they observe in others rather than reporting their own; if grouping co-created solutions helps participants identify voids; and if sharing documents via QR increases likelihood to submit proposals. This combination of interventions tried to address from different angles easy to promote co-creation and realize the value of co-creation.
What is your hypothesis? IF... THEN....
There are five: (1) if participants are greeted in their local language; then they will feel appreciated; (2) if we ask about the interests of participants, then we will be able to make information more relevant; (3) if we ask to report behavior observed in others rather than own behavior, then people will be more open to share; (4) if we group proposed solutions, then people will identify voids; and (5) if we share documents using a QR then more people will download the documents.
Does the activity use a control group for comparison?
Yes, the same group but before the intervention
How is the intervention assigned to different groups in your experiment?
Non-random assignment
Describe which actions will you take to test your hypothesis:
We took the opportunity to test the use of pre-experimental methodologies after we were invited to speak during an event organized by the Secretariat of Science and Technology. We design a presentation attending the request to share the importance of innovation for development. Within the talk we built in five interventions to engage participants in a co-creation exercise. We first greeted in the local language Q'eqchi, then we ask them to share their interests matching SDG, we then asked to share observed behaviors, then we grouped proposals from the participatory exercise, and finally we shared documents through a QR code.
What is the unit of analysis of this experimental activity?
The unit of analysis are the group of participants.
Please describe the data collection technique proposed
We collected data from direct observations.
What is the timeline of the experimental activity? (Months/Days)
The interventions were administered during the 45 minute talk.
What is the estimated sample size?
2-9
What is the total estimated monetary resources needed for this experiment?
Less than 1,000 USD
Quality Check
This activity is relevant to a CPD outcome, The hypothesis is clearly stated, This activity offers strong collaboration oportunities, This activity offers a high potential for scaling, This activity has a low risk
Please upload any supporting images or visuals for this experiment.
Please upload any supporting links
What are the estimated non- monetary resources required for this experiment? (time allocation from team, external resources, etc) If any.
We needed the audio and visual tools during the presentation. Then, the entire exercise was conducted as a conversation, so no additional resources or physical aids were needed.
Results
Was the original hypothesis (If.. then) proven or disproven?
Partially proven.
Do you have observations about the methodology chosen for the experiment? What would you change?
Certainly we would need increase the sample of cases where we test the interventions. Actions such as greeting in the local language need more practice. We could have recorded the session and developed instruments to be more rigorous in the data collection process.
From design to results, how long did this activity take? (Time in months)
Less than one month.
What were the actual monetary resources invested in this activity? (Amount in USD)
No additional
monetary resources were needed. Although it's important to consider that there
are costs associated with traveling to the location, and the space to run the
activities. But this was already covered for other purposes, allowing the
experiments to not require additional costs.
Does this activity have a follow up or a next stage? Please explain
The follow up consisted in sharing the learnings from the interventions, but also the logic of implementing portfolios of experiments. The products from the exercise regarding ways to improve waste management were also used to inform mapping activities.
Is this experiment planned to scale? How? With whom?
The interventions support the continuation of using participatory approaches to engage citizens.
Please include any supporting images that could be used to showcase this activity
Please add any supporting links that describe the planning, implementation, results of learning of this activity? For example a tweet, a blog, or a report.
Considering the outcomes of this experimental activity, which of the following best describe what happened after? (Please select all that apply)
This experiment led to partnerships, This experiment led to adoption of new ways of working by our partners
Learning
What do you know now about the action plan learning question that you did not know before? What were your main learnings during this experiment?
We confirmed
that co-creation exercises are a viable way to engage citizens in the proposals
of solutions to complex challenges. We know that people are more open when
reporting observed behavior in others, rather than their own. Particularly
regarding how to improve waste management, the proposals from people reveal
that they consider having low agency to solve the problem; they consider that
most actions should come from governmental responsibilities. They consider that
education awareness is insufficient, as it needs to be reinforced with what is observed,
collaboration from others, investment in infrastructure, clear policies, and
enforcement of regulation.
What were the main obstacles and challenges you encountered during this activity?
Time constrains. Also, there were no resources available to document in a more rigorous way the process.
Who at UNDP might benefit from the results of this experimental activity? Why?
All programmatic
areas within the country office, when they invite participants to events, could
benefit from testing how the activities during the event improve participation.
Who outside UNDP might benefit from the results of this experiment? and why?
The Secretariat of Science and Technology, Municipalities, Ministry of Environment, and other government agencies could benefit from using experimentation to improve the way they engage citizens in the creation of solutions to development challenges.
Did this experiment require iterations? If so, how many and what did you change/adjust along the way? and why?
No.
What advice would you give someone wanting to replicate this experimental activity?
That this type of approach to testing a portfolio of experiments could be useful to test the concept and communicate it with counterparts.
Can this experiment be replicated in another thematic area or other SDGs? If yes, what would need to be considered, if no, why not?
Without difficulty, in this case we addressed the challenge of waste management, but every other SDG can be addressed with citizen participation.
How much the "sense" and "explore" phases of the learning cycle influenced/shaped this experiment? In hindsight, what would you have done differently with your fellow Solution Mapper and Explorer?
Sense has defined the topic we work on: waste management.
What surprised you?
It is surprising
that greeting in the own language was not easily recognized. It was also
surprising that the solutions generated for waste management showed a feeling
of little individual agency.
11Sustainable cities and communities
13Climate action
17Partnerships for the goals
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