August 16, 2021 By: Henry Malone Results-Based Accountability (RBA) is a disciplined way of thinking and taking action that improves the lives of children, families and communities, and can also help guide agencies to improving the performance of their programs. RBA helps agencies, nonprofits and government entities achieve their collective impact goals by starting at [...]
Here is a way to teach the Results-Based Accountability thinking process which will work with any audience. (Your script in bold and Audience likely responses in quotes.) 1. Draw a story behind the curve example with an upload sloping trend of 5 data values on a flipchart 2. Ask “How many people here have ever had [...]
The most common problem in this work is the problem of language. People come to the table from many different disciplines and many different walks of life. And the way in which we talk about programs, services and populations varies, literally, all over the map. This means that the usual state of affairs in planning [...]
The Short Answer Start with ends, work backward to means. What do we want? How will we recognize it? What will it take to get there? Be clear and disciplined about language. Use plain language, not exclusionary jargon. Keep accountability for populations separate from accountability for programs and agencies. Results are end conditions of [...]
The Short Answer 1. Maybe this is just another fad. How well it is done will determine that. 2. But the results themselves (conditions of well-being for children, adults, families, and communities) are here to stay. Results like "all children are healthy and ready for school" will still be important in 100 years. 3. The framework [...]
The Short Answer 1. Appeal to their sense of right and wrong. 2. Appeal to their self interest. Full Answer (1) Appeal to their sense of right and wrong: Improving the well-being of children and families is the right thing to do. Doing it in a disciplined way is the right way to [...]
The Short Answer 1. Anywhere leads to everywhere. It doesn't matter where you start, you will eventually get to everything. 2. Start where people are passionate. 3. Don't let outsiders tell you where to start. Start where it feels right for your county, city or community. 4. The work can proceed on parallel tracks. Don't let [...]
The Short Answer When thinking about how to bring people together to do the work of RBA, there are a few organizational and political considerations. (1) Organizational: (a) Build on existing forums: collaboratives, children's cabinets, coalitions, family and child advocacy organizations, United Ways or similar convening organizations. (b) Create tables where people can work [...]
The Short Answer 1. For a community that wants to do this, use the mainstream political structures in a broad based partnership. 2. For a community that doesn't want to do this, use existing, or if necessary, new advocacy organizations or coalitions to get started, and seek mainstream political support. Full Answer Much of [...]
The Short Answer 1. Use a cross walk to let people see how different frameworks are related. While terminology and structure may vary, most approaches are actually trying to accomplish the same thing and differ principally in the labels used for ideas. 2. The crosswalk tool presented in this guide can be used to: [...]
