We are using Outcome Harvesting (OH) to research into how communities are engaging with local language Scriptures resources (print, audio and visual), starting in the Southern Highlands of Tanzania. Our intention is to identify how to move forward in serving local communities by helping to identify effective Scripture engagement (SE) approaches. The research will be combined with ministry to facilitate the distribution and use of Scripture resources in the local languages.
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| The central town of Mbeya |
Six New Testaments have been launched. The first of these was launched in May 2019, then five more were launched in 2020 and one in 2021. We aim to do research in the first three during the initial 2 years of the project; these are Nyakyusa, Vwanji and Malila.
The overall questions we want to explore are:
What outcomes are there and what can we learn from those
Who contributed to these outcomes
Which outcomes are most common or show which aspects of our work has led to the most positive outcomes
The Team
The main research team is Katherine O'Donnell (SE Coordinator for SIL Tanzania) and Frank Mwaluanda (Literacy Specialist in the Mbeya Cluster Project). Other research assistants will be brought in from each of the language groups as needed.
The SIL Learning Towards Transformation team is helping to coach the team through the outcome harvesting process. Robert Waliaula (LTT team leader) and Phil Smith (Evalaution and learning consultant) will be helping to facilitate an initial workshop in Mbeya.
Process
LTT will facilitate an initial workshop in Mbeya to:
Initiate the OH process in one language community
Equip the team to continue working with areas as per SE research project plans
Start (this!) blog to communicate process and findings
After this the OH team in Mbeya will continue to gather and
make sense of outcomes with the local language communities, learning together
with the relevant language committees/CBOs (Community Based Organisations),
while combining this with SE ministry in the language area.
For more information (plans, background etc.), please visit the background page where we will gather relevant resources).
Outcome Harvesting
We are using the Outcome Harvesting (OH) method to explore change, which essentially involves collecting and analysing short stories about changes of behaviour in local actors, and provides a more structured approach to learning from change stories. Here is a short video about Outcome Harvesting, to learn more, visit the LTT website (link below):
About the Blog
This blog is a collaboration between the SIL SE team in Mbeya, and the SIL Learning towards transformation team. It is not an official SIL site, but rather the 'rough notes' from the research (process, findings and other reflections) which we want to share as we go, both to have a good log, and to be open for feedback.
Interesting! I'll be following your progress...
ReplyDeleteOne comment - why just the NTs? What about other products that might have been produced in those languages? And activities too?
Thanks. We aren't just focusing on NTs - hopefully that will become clear as you read the description of the blog (under the main heading) and this particular post, which refer to SE activities and other materials, as well as just the NT. You are right, we want to hear about the impact of all aspects of our work, not just the NT itself, although engagement with the NT since its launch is a particularly significant area for investigation.
DeleteI really like the idea of combining research with ministry. So you are not only find out what is making a difference, but also contribute positively to shaping the future. Looking forward to learning more about what is really happening in Tanzania. I believe someone is looking to do similar in Cameroon too.
ReplyDeleteThanks. I'm sure you are familiar with the SERAM report from Papua New Guinea? This was influential in forming the idea, though we are taking a very different research approach.
DeleteWe look forward to the learnings from this research.
ReplyDeleteThanks. If you look at previous posts with the label 'findings' you will be able to see some initial learnings that have emerged from the research.
DeleteWao! It is nice to see how this approach is designed to evaluate the behavior changes in the communities.
ReplyDelete