DAC Site Logo

Collaborative Practice Tool

Introducing 10to19’s Collaborative Practice Tool, a guide to support reviews, self-reflection and learning to continually identify effective, innovative, scalable and sustainable promising practices through a project’s lifecycle

Snapshot of the Tool

Below is a summary of the 5 steps that a project team can follow to arrive at Promising Practices for their program – each step in this process will enable the team to gain a holistic picture of the program while narrowing down to solutions that work

STEP 1 | list and Shortlist
Objectives & Outcome
STEP 2 | substantiate & calibrate
Objectives & Outcome
By the end of Step 2, the team would have arrived at a list of the Promising Practice(s)
STEP 3 | Develop into a Recommendation
Objectives & Outcome
STEP 4 | Document
Objectives & Outcome
STEP 5 | Objective Review
Objectives & Outcome
Previous slide
Next slide

Instructions to follow before using the tool

Assigning Roles

The tool is effective when implemented collectively within teams with people playing complementary roles. Therefore, before beginning, choose the following members and clarify their roles.

This group of specialists would be referred to as ‘the team’

Enquiry Specialist

This can be someone who asks guiding questions to arrive at the promising practices and assesses the potential for scale, however, is not necessarily involved in the day-to-day implementation of the program. For example, this could include roles similar to that of a vertical lead or overall project manager.

Program Specialist

This can be an individual from the program team who delivers the program on-ground on a day-to-day basis and understands the program from its inception to the present day. For example, this could be someone like an implementation coordinator or on-ground volunteer. We recommend that you have more than one program specialist present while implementing the roadmap.

Impact Specialist

This is someone who has a good understanding of learning and impact in general, especially qualitative impact. The person must also have a good understanding of the scaling ecosystem within the development sector in India. This can include a keen understanding of government policies, programs and schemes, and the needs of the practitioner and philanthropic sector. Such roles are usually carried out by senior/mid-level management in leadership positions.

documentation Specialist

This must be someone who uses the tool to document the discussion and promising practices. Such a role usually requires someone with strong organising and typing skills, good command over the English language and who pays attention to detail.

  • Each step contains ‘instructions’, along with ‘probing questions’ for facilitation. The team does not need to answer all the probing questions. This is left to the discretion of the enquiry specialist. 

  • The roadmap focuses on certain aspects of the program or initiative but is not an exercise to re-calibrate the theory of change or strategies

  • The goal of this tool is to capture the on-ground strategies, solutions, frameworks, aspects, methodologies, and ways of working in a program that should be gathered for knowledge-sharing among actors in the sector.

  • The objectives are specified by the enquiry specialist at the start of each step.

  • All activities and approaches are probed for by the program specialist using the probing questions

  • Responses are captured by the documentation specialist and summarised by the enquiry specialist at the end of each step using the documentation template

  • Documentation specialist should keep a notebook/word document for recording key points during discussions facilitated by the enquiry specialist. This will later aid in accurately documenting information in the documentation templates.

Below is a fully constructed example, provided to act as a reference for how the relevant details would be captured in each table through the tool.

Click here to explore a practical example

Once ready, click below to start using the Tool!

Begin!
Write to us at 10to19community@dasra.org
Instagram Facebook-f Twitter Youtube Linkedin Envelope

1

List & Shortlist

Objective

To identify gaps/needs/opportunities and to shortlist program practices that are impactful, sustainable, scalable, innovative and/or unique.

Outcome

  • Policy gaps

  • Community needs

  • Opportunities for innovation and other aspects that the program is addressing.

  • A list of program practices that are working on-ground in bridging gaps/needs/opportunities.

2

CALIBRATE & SUBSTANTIATE

Objective

To substantiate the shortlisted practices by collating gathered data in the form of:

 

  • Feedback from the community
  • Verbal accounts of the ground team
  • Documentation reports
  • Other valuable data

Outcome

Obtaining qualitative and/or quantitative data to assess the promise of the shortlisted practices according to the four guiding factors

First list of promising practices

3

DEVELOP INTO A RECOMMENDATION

Objective

To construct a recommendation in a brief, specific and clear-cut format which would assist other initiatives in implementing the same

Outcome

Clear and comprehensive recommendation(s) addressing:

 

  • Demographic to cater to
  • Gaps/needs/opportunities addressed by the practice
  • The direct/eventual beneficiaries of the program

4

DEVELOP INTO A RECOMMENDATION

Objective

To document the promising practices in a detailed manner

Outcome

2-3 promising practices documented in a concise format capturing:

  • What gap/need is addressed
  • How it is addressed and the change that is created
  • The potential for replicating along with recommendations for implementing

5

Objective Review

Objective

To validate the final promising practice and recommendation(s) by at least one person/ partner organization/ community/ MEL partners outside of the team.

Outcome

Promising Practices and recommendations ratified by at least one member/ partner organization/ community/ MEL partner outside of ‘the team’

Reference Example for easy understanding

STEP 1 - List & Shortlist

IDENTIFYING THE PROGRAM’S GAPS/NEEDS/OPPORTUNITIES
TABLE 1

The policy gap(s) addressed by the program

The exclusion of young people in the decision-making process for policy issues surrounding adolescents

Community need(s) addressed by the program

Greater awareness and understanding of adolescent issues regarding their education, sexual and reproductive health, and early marriage

Opportunity for innovation addressed by the program

The opportunity to bring and work together with critical stakeholders on a single platform

IDENTIFYING PROGRAM ACTIVITIES AND OTHER PROGRAM PRACTICES
TABLE 2

Day-to-day program activities

Stakeholder management, vendor management

Periodic program activities

Monitoring, reporting, training of personnel

One-off program activities

Government advocacy, designing campaigns

Tools/frameworks/systems & processes/ways of working from the program

Systems Change Framework

IDENTIFYING POTENTIAL PROMISING PRACTICES ACCORDING TO THE GUIDING FACTORS
TABLE 3

Program practices

Is the practice impactful? If yes, list down why?

Is the practice sustainable? If yes, list down why?   

Is the practice scalable? If yes, list down why?  

Is the practice innovative and/or unique? If yes, list down why?  

Youth-led social audits and presenting youth-centric priorities directly to decision makers

Yes, as it allows young people to directly engage with decision makers and contribute to the decision-making process

Yes, as it equips young people with leadership skills. It is also cost effective due to the long-term gains it offers upon initial investment

Yes, as such training modules can be replicated across multiple initiatives by other practitioners & organizations. In addition, trained young people can also train other young people

Yes, as it follows an approach which centers its design and delivery around young people, in an end-to-end manner

+

+

+

+

+

STEP 2 - Substantiate & Calibrate

IDENTIFYING THE EVIDENCE TO SUPPORT THE SHORTLISTED PRACTICES
TABLE 4

Promising Practice

Youth-led social audits and presenting youth-centric priorities directly to decision makers to: (i) create a platform for youth to exercise their agency (ii) effectively engage decision makers

Source

  • Verbal evidence from community
  • Verbal feedback from on-ground team members
  • Project report & surveys

Details

Community feedback of adolescents feeling confident, understood, and acknowledged

On-ground team feedback on creation of government champions for the project’s objectives

Project report and surveys observe greater youth involvement and efficacy in engaging directly with decision maker

STEP 3 - Develop into a recommendation

IDENTIFYING POTENTIAL BENEFICIARIES AND STAKEHOLDERS
TABLE 5

RECOMMENDATIONS

Promising Practice

Youth-led social audits and presenting youth-centric priorities directly to decision makers to: (i) create a platform for youth to exercise their agency (ii) effectively engage decision makers

The demographic it addresses

Adolescents from the age of 10 to 19 years

The gap/ need/ opportunity it addresses

The exclusion of adolescents and young people in the decision-making process for policy issues regarding adolescents and young people

Govt stakeholders

Holding consultations with critical stakeholders and young people from the inception of a program

Funders

Taking inputs from all stakeholders and young people before initiating a new project to ensure a deeper visibility and understanding of their demographic and its needs

Other Practitioners

Engaging young people in decision-making processes to adopt a more collaborative approach between stakeholders and young people

Community Stakeholders

Undertaking youth-led social audits and engagement with decision makers to engage directly with young people, understand their needs & concerns and influence change at the community level

STEP 4 - Document

STEP 5 - Objective Review

5

Objective Review

Outcome

Promising Practices and recommendations ratified by at least one member/ partner organization/ community/ MEL partners outside of ‘the team’

4

Document

Outcome

2-3 promising practices documenting:

 

  • What gap/need is addressed
  • How it is addressed and the change that is created
  • The potential for replicating along with recommendations for implementing

3

Develop into a recommendation

Outcome

Well-articulated recommendation(s) addressing:

 

  • Demographic to cater to
  • Gaps/needs/opportunities addressed by the practice
  • The change brought in by implementing such a practice

2

CALIBRATE & SUBSTANTIATE

Outcome

Obtaining qualitative and/or quantitative data to assess the promise of the shortlisted practices according to the five guiding factors

Arriving at first list of promising practices

1

List & Shortlist

Outcome

Identifying:

  • Policy gaps
  • Community needs
  • Opportunities for innovation and other aspects that the program is addressing.

    Creating a list of program practices that are working on-ground in bridging gaps/needs/opportunities.
DAC Site Logo
Webinars & Events
Campaigns & Initiatives
Thought Leadership
Shining the spotlight
youth hub
Learning Lab
Youth ke Bol
Collaborative Practice
National Youth Conclave
Donors & Partners
Resources
Contact Us