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Please be aware that the content herein has not been peer reviewed.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)
July 15th, 2021
Current status of experimental activity
Completed
What portfolio does this activity correspond to? If any
Knowledge management
What is the frontier challenge does this activity responds to?
How to base decisions and behaviors on existing knowledge
What is the learning question(from your action learning plan) is this activity related to?
What makes it easier for decisions and behaviors to be informed by existing knowledge?
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
United Nations agency, Public Sector, Civil Society/ NGOs
Please list the names of partners mentioned in the previous question:
This experiment is in the context
of programa Maya, in the poverty reduction programmatic area of UNDP, and it
works with the Justice System in Guatemala and indigenous communities
Design
What is the specific learning intent of the activity?
There are different levels to the learning intents from this experiment. On the one hand, there is a need to increase the capacity for projects at UNDP to work with indigenous communities. We want to learn if interviewing can be a way to make it easier for the development practitioners to document the solutions they have developed during the implementation of their activities with indigenous groups, since these are not the emphasis of the project reports. And, we want to learn about what works when working with indigenous groups.
What is your hypothesis? IF... THEN....
If we use an interview using digital tools, then development practitioners will be able to share solutions on how to work with indigenous groups faster
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 coordinated
an interview with the team who lead the implementation of activities with
indigenous groups. To show our interest and guide questions in a more
productive way, we researched first about the work that they have done. Then we
prepared a semi structured interview in which we were attentive to mentions
about innovations, actors, signals of change and data that helped solve the
challenge of working with indigenous groups. We noticed great interest in
sharing the capacity the team has developed to work with indigenous groups and
tried to interrupt the least. Then we looked for patterns in the learnings and
shared the results.
What is the unit of analysis of this experimental activity?
A project
Please describe the data collection technique proposed
Semi-structured
interview through zoom with visual and documentation aids using a Mural
What is the timeline of the experimental activity? (Months/Days)
About a week
What is the estimated sample size?
1
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 time from the project team, a computer, internet, Mural, an analysis of the project goals.
Results
Was the original hypothesis (If.. then) proven or disproven?
Proven. Indeed, the interview made the process of documenting innovations in the work with indigenous groups easier for the team to share. Often, practitioners can give detailed descriptions on the activities they do, but it is only until they are asked "why do you think it works or it's important to do it that way" that they reveal deeper insights that can be useful for other practitioners.
Do you have observations about the methodology chosen for the experiment? What would you change?
We could certainly try to compare results from different approaches to identifying best practices to work with indigenous people. We were mostly interested if this way of doing them was practical, fast, and useful. It's also worth pointing out that this type of interviews requires some training and experience from the interviewer.
From design to results, how long did this activity take? (Time in months)
Less than a month
What were the actual monetary resources invested in this activity? (Amount in USD)
US$0.00 adicional resources
Does this activity have a follow up or a next stage? Please explain
We prepared a report, and are looking into ways in which the practices can be institutionalized.
Is this experiment planned to scale? How? With whom?
We would like it to scale to other projects that work with indigenous groups.
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 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 know that knowledge management is difficult, because great insights on how to solve practical problems are not the focus of reports that seek to show results (rather than learnings). We also confirm that many times, people must learn how to solve things on their own but are often coming up with similar solutions. Also, we learned at least four ways in which working with indigenous groups can improve: (1) how to adapt digital tools by paying for data and lending equipment; (2) using local members of the community to implement projects; (3) using mentors to increase the capacity of local members of the community, rather than substitute them; (4) incorporating these processes before implementing any activity; (5) identifying cultural brokers who can provide feedback on communication, identify words that threaten trust.
What were the main obstacles and challenges you encountered during this activity?
Time is an obstacle often. Also, people may not be aware there is interest in learning what was needed to solve a problem with indigenous groups.
Who at UNDP might benefit from the results of this experimental activity? Why?
All country programs that work with indigenous groups can benefit from the specific learnings, and other programs can benefit from using this technique for knowledge management.
Who outside UNDP might benefit from the results of this experiment? and why?
Public institutions as well as civil society organizations that work with indigenous groups, and indigenous groups themselves, because they can design projects that incorporate best practices, and document them.
Did this experiment require iterations? If so, how many and what did you change/adjust along the way? and why?
We didn't use iterations.
What advice would you give someone wanting to replicate this experimental activity?
The preparatory work and skills to conduct this type of interviews is important.
Can this experiment be replicated in another thematic area or other SDGs? If yes, what would need to be considered, if no, why not?
Yes, this can help to identify best practices not only to reduce inequalities, strengthen institutions. For example, it could work with working with private sector which another actor relevant for development where people do not necessarily understand how to engage to achieve sustainable growth.
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?
The sense was interested in the work with indigenous groups.
What surprised you?
It's surprising how rich the information gather from the exchange was in such a short period of time. Also, the use of cultural brokers, and mentors is a very interesting way to improve collaboration with indigenous groups.
10Reduced innequalities
16Peace, justice and strong institutions
17Partnerships for the goals
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