Date: Friday, March 14, 2025
Hello, AEA365 community! Liz DiLuzio here, Lead Curator of the blog. This week is Individuals Week, which means we take a break from our themed weeks and spotlight the Hot Tips, Cool Tricks, Rad Resources and Lessons Learned from any evaluator interested in sharing. Would you like to contribute to future individuals weeks? Email me at AEA365@eval.org with an idea or a draft and we will make it happen.
Hello! I’m Sherry Gaynor, program evaluator, career educator, and Ph.D. candidate at the University of South Florida, where I earned my graduate certificate in Evaluation. I am an active member and enthusiast in the global education community, excited to share my experience in evaluation of a sister cities organization.
The sister cities association for this evaluation is a non-profit organization in Florida with sister city partnerships in Mexico and in France, spanning over 25 years each. The Sister Cities International (SCI) organization was originally established in 1956 by U.S. President Eisenhower, following war time to promote peaceful relations and alliances for improved humanity. The parent organization continues to thrive, engaging over 300 member communities from around the globe with over 2,000 partnerships in 140+ countries. Sister City partnerships are ordained by city officials in each respective country; the partnership has no expiration date, and is not funded nor governed by any government agency. The framework used by SCI includes youth leadership, peaceful relations, arts and culture, and business and trade. Sister city activities are meant to be mutually beneficial. The purpose of evaluation is to assess organizational structure, human relations, communications, evidence-based management, program activities, implementation, and outcome. These values form the foundation and constructs of my evaluation on a local sister cities chapter.
The history of this sister cities association began with efforts from a Florida university’s Russian Studies program to establish a partnership with Russia, in the 1980’s. When efforts were exhausted but not fruitful, the pioneering founders pivoted to an excursion to the Yucatàn peninsula, Mexico to explore business and cultural exchange possibilities, in 1995. The visit officiated the birth of this Sister Cities association’s partnership. The partnership with a city in the Basque region of France, initiated by a Florida mayor, officiated in 1998. The partnership with Mexico flourished after Hurricanes Opal and Roxanne, as Florida members provided relief supports and has grown ever since to include exchange projects and educational opportunities for all levels of academia. The partnership with France also continues to flourish with many years of cultural exchange including internship opportunities with Florida city employment agencies and a French university engineering program, local art exhibitions, and jazz ensemble excursions.
Participants in the evaluation included association board members, participants/members, international partners, and educators. Surveys were distributed to members and interviews were conducted with sister cities association’s president and treasurer. Documentation of chronicled history of organization, newsletters, website, Facebook, and personal participatory experience with organization provided supporting data. Evaluation constructs included organizational structure, human relations, educational activities, communications, and community impact. A logic model for non-profit organizations was used to guide the evaluation design. Association activities, processes and projects were evaluated based on data-driven decisions and short, medium, and long-term SMART goals. Evaluation questions centered around organizational structure, human relations, learning activities, and communications and included 16 participant surveys. Scores were averaged from Likert scale questions and scored at a 0–5-point scale to measure relationships and communications. Outcome, impact, and contributionsin education were assessed by examining educational projects, implementation, and student achievement.
Sister Cities Evaluation Logic Model
An executive summary was shared with association president, and founding member, for review. The evaluation report focused on overall impact based on established standards of ISC and organization’s stated mission. Once discussed, a live meeting was conducted with the board of directors and the final evaluation report was shared electronically and well received.
Evaluation is a valuable tool! Through intentional improvement, transparent communications, and humility, programs, professional, and consequently, society and humanity can be improved.
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