Rubrics Methodology in Detail: Helping Save The Children Turn Children's Experiences of Discrimination and Exclusion into Rich, Trackable Outcomes

Abstract

Background: Save the Children’s child sponsorship program (referred to as Sponsorship) supports children, their families and communities, and institutions in 20 countries to create social and behavior change together so that all children survive, learn, are protected, and live free from discrimination. Purpose: To present a new rubrics-enhanced monitoring, evaluation, accountability, and learning (MEAL) system being developed with Save the Children’s Sponsorship Program. The system helps the organization track progress on key social change outcomes, especially less tangible outcomes, such as children’s experiences of inequality and discrimination. Setting: Sponsorship’s work spans 20 countries around the world. It works through a 10-year program cycle, building community capacity to create social change that addresses the root causes of inequality and discrimination for a group ofchildren living in an impact area. The evaluation methodology showcased here was piloted in Zambia, the Philippines, and El Salvador. Intervention: Not applicable. Research Design: This paper presents some of the nuts and bolts of using rubrics to turn stories of change into rich, trackable outcomes, using one of the 12 rubrics developed for Sponsorship to illustrate the methodology. Data Collection and Analysis: Focus group and interview protocols are used to gather stories and other documentation (such as health statistics and educational outcomes) from children, families, community members, educators, health care professionals, and local government officials. A detailed, step-by-step evidence interpretation guide shows how to synthesize these multiple sources of evidence and convert them into evaluative ratings using rubrics and guided evaluative reasoning. Findings: Rubrics are a powerful tool for evaluating complex and nuanced outcomes, provided they are appropriately adapted for different contexts. For MEAL practitioners less familiar with rubrics methodology, detailed guidance and support are needed to help ensure that the framework is applied consistently across the system while also being contextually responsive. Based on Save the Children’s experience, several helpful strategies are presented for introducing rubrics into an existing M&E system: starting small and building momentum; opt-in piloting and gradual rollout; smart capacity building; providing more detailed guidance to evaluators and managers; getting buy-in to a specific measurement problem and solution rather than replacing the entire MEAL system; working with expert allies; and getting excited and innovative.