Methods for impact
Well-being method
Impact for us comes from addressing the well-being of people: seeing with the eyes of those that are at the center of our work, be it women, young people, farmers or pastoralists. What matters most in their lives, what reduces their concerns and increases welfare for them: and then understanding on how we can contribute to this. We have developed the well-being method for social survey for this, which facilitates them to express how they see their reality and their own development.
Well-being method for social survey How to create a connection between the interviewed person and the person interviewing?
Convening power
We believe change can happen fast and at scale when working in partnership. We believe in working with and through others – governments, community groups, civil society, user networks, financial organizations and entrepreneurs. We believe in the power to convene, in bringing alliances together for change. Within ourselves and with our partners we have a rich network that can be mobilized to make things happen.
Coaching for Leadership Mandates We all have a mandate, but we may not live up to it.
New methods of learning
Learning is a pathway to change, but people learn in different ways and we need to be creative in order to fill gaps in knowledge, skills and awareness. Apart from conventional training, we use new methods of peer-to-peer learning, in particular:
- Horizontal learning: an effective methods of learning through exchange and coaching among peers, be it farmers, service workers or policy makers, reinforced with competitions, peer-to-peer stimuli and the use of ICT.
- Guided learning: ‘doing by learning’ method where teams work through real-life exercises preferably with close colleagues and with being reviewed by peers. This method is very suitable to train frontline workers that are often not fed with new knowledge and inspiring insights. We have applied Guided Learning in many fields
Read our blog: The power of peers: self-evolving institutions in action
Video-based Horizontal Learning
Horizontal learning is peer-to-peer learning. It is how farmers, practioners and even policy makers learn fast and are encouraged to act: by sharing new information and good practices with each other and guide one another.
Horizontal learning is put in practice by organising activities such as expositions, exchange visits, and meetings. This process can be boosted further when participants are trained, encouraged, and incentivized to capture and share good practices using smartphone videos. This can be achieved using a combination of trainings, competitions, screenings, and social media. The potential for video-based horizontal learning in different shapes and applications is enormous as smartphone penetration grows among communities across the world. It stimulates understanding of situations and solutions that one was not aware of before.
Boosting Horizontal Learning Using Videos A manual January 2020
Monitoring, learning and evaluation
Monitoring, evaluation and learning should include in every program – the methods used are many – from inquiry, focus group discussion to the collection of spatial data through drone and satellite. Community validation and understanding what works is an important part of this. It ensures that monitoring, learning and evaluation helps us to be effective and build on the experiences of others. What is important is to be clear on who learns and for what, what is included in the scope of questions asked and how this is shared and reviewed.
Communication
We believe in open access. We have a policy to make practical solutions and approaches developed widely available, preferably in ways that are visual and easy to understand at all levels.
Communication is the privilege of sharing what is being done and creating the opportunity for many to use it. Our public service outlet is TheWaterChannel with more than 2500 videos, as well as blogs and special dossiers and upwards of 15000 followers on Twitter. TheWaterChannel organizes very frequent webinars, master classes and virtual or hybrid conferences.
Communication moreover goes beyond dissemination. It is also a tool to build linkages among partners. Joint communication will help commit to new ideas and to combine forces for change.
Communication as a Strategic Approach Strategics and Communication
Conferences and workshops
Conferences and workshop are an important part of reaching impact. There is a important dimension in organizing conferences and workshops – which is not about the content only, but about bringing people together, making linkages, getting new statement and intentions and creating the energy to move topics forward. For this we take time to research the topics at hand and to understand who plays a major role and what is needed to reach the required outcome.
We organize such conferences and workshop not as routine events but as efficient and catalyzing experiences. In organizing a conference or workshop for us it is important to design a good flow in the proceedings and to make sure all the details are rights, so that participants feel part of a well-prepared happening. Together with the initiators, we help arrange the content of the program, the moderation, the time management, but also the registration process, the look and feel of the event, its promotion and all the details of a perfect logistics: venue, travel, catering, reception.
Example: Dream Conferences
Games with a Heart
MetaMeta has supported the development of Games with a Heart – a company dedicated to make use of the transformative power of learning and having fun through games. Games with a Heart is engaging games for building skills, creating awareness, capturing ideas and making education much more compelling. Games with a Heart uses games as tools for research. What matter is not just the development of the games: it is also the design with the main proponents and the proper introduction and landing and coaching.
Games make us understand reality from different angles. They help us improve our skills and sometimes speak in a language of their own. Games with a Heart has a catalogue of more than seventy self-created games and puzzles that have been published in newspapers and magazines. We see that in many situations games have a captive audience like no other.