By Betsy Olson We collaborate with many different stakeholders and in many different ways. We partner with community organizations. We work with government entities to meet the needs of local youth. We work with our colleagues and, most importantly, we collaborate with young people. How do we know if our partnerships are working? One way to evaluate collaboration is to consider the elements that inspire stakeholders to collaborate with us. Research has identified six elements . Let’s look at these elements and how we can use them to plan an evaluation Recognition: Recognize partners for their contributions Questions to ask: What is the contribution that each partner is most proud of? How have they been recognized for their contribution ? How has the recognition demonstrated an appreciation for their work? Respect: Partners are respected for the value and importance of the resources, perspectives and knowledge that they bring Questions to ask: In what way do we d...
Our youth development educators bridge research and practice. In this blog, they offer their views on what's happening in the field of youth development, with an eye to evidence-based research written by themselves and others in our field. We welcome your comments.