Including Diverse Stakeholder Voices in Youth Character Program Evaluation

Abstract

Although experts agree that diverse stakeholder inclusion enhances quality and equity in evaluation designs and implementation, diverse voices are often omitted. Particularly antithetical to principles of youth character development, evaluations for these programs should strive to include voices from various social, economic, community, and demographic perspectives. One innovative national evaluation capacity building initiative, the Partnerships for Advancing Character Program Evaluation (PACE) project, paired practitioners from youth programs in community-based organizations with evaluation professionals to enhance stakeholders’ roles in evaluation. PACE promoted stakeholder identification and inclusion through group exercises, partnership work, and coaching sessions. Using a mixed methods design with interviews, retrospective pretest–posttest surveys, and observational data, triangulated data addressed diverse stakeholders in the evaluation process, diverse perspectives on program performance, and connecting diverse input to evaluation design. Postprogram findings indicate that participants included more varied and diverse stakeholder perspectives in all the three areas. Implications for programs and evaluations are discussed.

A Multi-Stakeholder Perspective on Factors Affecting Successful Transition to Adulthood for Youth with Severe Emotional Disturbances

“…The five clusters, or themes, that emerged from participant responses in our study echo the existing literature on barriers to adult mental health services (Klodnick et al, 2021 ; LaPorte et al, 2014 ; Wagner et al, 2016 ) and other challenges experienced by youth with SED in the transition to adulthood (Akinola & Dunkley, 2019 ; Marion & Paulsen, 2019 ; Walters, 2017 ; Xie et al, 2014 ). At the same time, our findings reflect literature on adolescent mental health services and positive youth development that emphasize the importance of youth experiences and participation in service evaluation and planning (Brown, 2006b ; Chauveron et al, 2021 ; Delman & Jones, 2002 ; LaPorte et al, 2014 ; Lich et al, 2017 ). The organization of clusters by level of importance and perceived feasibility also reflect the literature on specific challenges experienced by Black transition-age youth with SED (Lindsey et al, 2017 ; Planey et al, 2019 ), whose cultural experiences and strengths may go unnoticed if services and interventions are only designed with one component of vulnerability (mental health condition) in mind (Cooper et al, 2015 ; Lateef, 2021 ).…”

“…The current study is framed by Relational Systems Evaluation (RSE) and Positive Youth Development (PYD). RSE emphasizes the value of building collaborative partnerships with multiple program informants, or stakeholders, when evaluating programs (Chauveron et al, 2021 ; Urban et al, 2021 ). RSE posits that each stakeholder can offer valuable insight to program planning and evaluation, therefore their perspectives and expertise should be held in high regard.…”

Engaging youth in stakeholder analysis for developing community‐based digital innovations for mental health of young people in Ingwavuma community, inKwaZulu‐NatalProvince, South Africa

“…While experts concur that inclusion of diverse stakeholders improves the quality of projects from conception to implementation, marginalised voices are often omitted (Chauveron et al, 2021 ). For South Africa, the inclusion of young people's voices in community projects is hindered by patriarch, regressive social norms, gender inequality and other intersecting power relationships, despite the presence of supportive legislation and constitutional provisions (Sathiparsad et al, 2008 ).…”