Community Change Evaluation

Since its creation in 1994, the Roundtable on Community Change has had a consistent line of work focusing on improving methods of evaluating complex change initiatives.  The Roundtable pioneered work that identified the need for clear theories of change to guide both community initiatives and their evaluations.  Since then, we have worked on tools and techniques to guide practitioners, funders and evaluators as they develop and articulate their theories of change.  We have also helped to clarify concepts, indicators and measures of “community building” such as civic and community capacity.  More recently, the Roundtable has emphasized the learning dimensions of evaluation, advocating for evaluations to be structured so as to maximize their potential to build field-level knowledge about community change. 

Publications:

Building Knowledge About Community Change: Moving Beyond Evaluation, by Patricia Auspos and Anne Kubisch, Aspen Roundtable on Community Change.  

The Community Builder's Approach to Theory of Change: A Practical Guide to Theory Development, by Andrea A. Anderson.  Washington, D.C.: The Aspen Institute, 2005.

New Approaches to Evaluating Community Initiatives, edited by James P Connel et al.  Washington, D.C.: The Aspen Institute, 1995. (Available for purchase only).

New Approaches to Evaluating Community Initiatives: Volume 2- Theory, Measurement, and Analysis, edited by Karen Fulbright Anderson, Anne C. Kubisch and James P. Connel. Washington, D.C. The Aspen Instititute, 1998. (Available for purchase only).

Theory of Change as a Tool for Strategic Planning: A Report on Early Experiences, by Andrea A. Anderson.  Washington, D.C.: The Aspen Institite, October 2004.

Articles:

Finding Out What Works: Building Knowledge About Complex, Community-Based Initiatives by Anna Coote, Jessica Allen and David Woodhead, The King's Fund, UK.