What are Promising Practices?

This tool is a 5-step process of reflection, which can be done internally with teams, partners/stakeholders and/or communities and which will ultimately help any initiative to arrive at its promising practice from a practitioner’s lens.

But before we start, let us understand what a Promising Practice really is.

Benchmarking approaches

The development sector uses various approaches, often identified through a Likert scale of being high-impact practices (HIPs), somewhat high-impact practices (SHIPs) or low-impact practices (LIPs), to evaluate what is working to generate impact. 

However, the two highly used terms are ‘Best Practices’ and ‘Promising Practices’. Though there is no single standardized definition of what constitutes a best practice or a promising practice, we provide some common ways in which these terms can be understood in the sector.

What is a Promising Practice?

Identifying a ‘best practice’ involves a rigorous process of review and evaluation which is often resource-intensive.

On the other hand, a promising practice can be described as an intervention, method, or technique that incorporates measurable results, has been shown to work effectively and reports beneficial outcomes, but lacks the backing of rigorous research data to establish the program or method as useful in a variety of contexts and people.

Despite this difference, a core criterion for both a best and promising practice is that the intervention must be based on evidence-based guidelines, such as:

subjective data

Interviews, anecdotal reports, testimonials, and lessons learned documentation from the individuals implementing the practice

objective data

Feedback from subject matter experts and the results of external audits, articles, and reports

documentation & testing

Learning documents, process documents or dipstick studies

There are several benefits of identifying and documenting promising practices such as:

We understand ‘promising practices’ as strategies or solutions that have the potential to be successful if evaluated. They are not necessarily full-scale intervention models or large programs, but are strategies or aspects within these programs that are impactful, innovative, scalable, sustainable, and innovative.

We consider the success themes of a ‘promising practice’ as:

Impact

Scalability

Innovation and/or uniqueness

Sustainability

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’

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’

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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.