Nikita Goossens, Feedback Labs | March 28, 2022
At our Feedback+Jacksonville Summit, we had both in-person and virtual Breakout Sessions. When people attend an event in-person, chances are high they choose to attend in-person sessions as well. However, our virtual audience truly enjoyed the virtual Breakout Sessions and we don’t want you to miss out on them! So here’s what you should know about these sessions.
Virtual Breakout Sessions on March 2
Power to the People: Engaging communities to shape humanitarian action
On the first day of Feedback+Jacksonville Nicolas Seris, Tatjana Andrews, Kristen Aster and Celia Ojo of International Rescue Committee and Alex Ross of Loop talked about the need to increase the power communities have in shaping the decisions and structures that impact their lives. Both organizations explained how they are working on this with crisis-affected communities in the US and around the world.
Very excited to be joining @RESCUEorg in this opening event of the @FeedbackLabs https://t.co/kTMsMyNKvP
— Talk To Loop (@TalkToLoop) February 9, 2022
Loop is a charity with the purpose of providing an independent, permanent and common service for feedback and complaints. This, to help people whose lives are shattered by conflict and disaster to survive, recover and gain control of their future.
International Rescue Committee’s team from Salt Lake City, Utah joined us with their New American Advisory Council (NAAC). Their goal is to create a meaningful space for the community to share feedback about IRC SLC’s programs & services to ensure their services are in alignment & responsive to community needs, values, priorities. This session was a great example of how different organizations can find their way toward each other through feedback.
Virtual Breakout Sessions on March 3
Katikati – an alternative that puts the conversation first
For this session on the second day of Feedback+Jacksonville Sharath Srinivasan of Katikati presented what it really means to listen and how to build an ongoing conversation in order to achieve something together. As a tool in doing so, at Katikati they designed a communication technology for a new conversational intelligence which enables organizations to not only collect feedback, but respond and act on what they are hearing.
During his session Sharath demonstrated in a very accessible way how this technology works and how effective it is to use in feedback. Yet, he mentioned, building trust remains very difficult in the beginning as it is for most organizations working on feedback. You can rewatch this session here.
Feedback from Our Future: Using PBS KIDS Outreach to Open Dialogue about Public Transportation
During this virtual session Miriam Mendoza, Ben Kramer (Austin PBS, KLRU-TV) and Sabine Romero (City of Austin) presented the plans to upgrade some of the largest and most important roads in Austin, Texas and how to connect with the children living along these routes. The aim is to understand how families move around today and to diversify their mobility habits into greener, more sustainable options.
The collaboration between the City of Austin and Austin PBS comes from a shared goal: to turn streetscapes and public transport into vibrant family spaces. Austin PBS’ role in the project is to inform, engage and entertain in a way that connects children to the plans of the city, since these have an impact on their future. There are also some funds available to set up new educational media.
During the session, participants learned how children can be involved in feedback on this project and the different steps that are necessary. After the general presentation, which you can watch here, participants were split up in breakout rooms. Each of the three rooms discussed a different topic: ‘inquiry and feedback processes that work with kids’, ‘setting realistic expectations within feedback loops’ and ‘inquiry and feedback processes that iterate with kids and families’.
Data for Equity: A leading strategy to connecting equitable outcomes and with equitable feedback practices
Kisha Freeman and Chris Scharenbroch of Evident Change presented their Data for Equity™ model during this session. This model was developed to help social service nonprofits and other organizations build capacity, accountability, and sustainability toward increased racial and ethnic equity and reduced racial and ethnic disparities. The aim is to ultimately help ensure that communities receive the best possible social services so that they do not, at any point, need to enter the child welfare, juvenile justice, or adult justice systems.
During their presentation participants gained insight into the model’s capacity to shift how organizations operate. Using a concrete example, Kisha and Chris showed that data can be misleading when not interpreted in the right way or when a survey – for example – offers limited answers.
They for example addressed the traditional versus alternate race and ethnicity options. The traditional race and ethnicity breakdown displays non-Hispanic race categories and Hispanic children of any race. However, the alternate race and ethnicity treats race and ethnicity as two separate categories that are not mutually exclusive and displays race categories that are combined with a Hispanic/non-Hispanic designation, which offers more accurate results.
Virtual Breakout Sessions on March 4
Participant voice first!
On the last day of our 2022 Summit, Joel Mumo of the Busara Center for Behavioral Economics, Inc. presented the principle of putting the voice of participants first in ethical research. Busara is a research and advisory firm dedicated to advancing and applying behavioral science in the pursuit of poverty alleviation.
During his session, Joel shared the framework he uses to find better ways of closing the feedback loop in communication with participants. He talked about the challenges in development research, the gap in suggested solutions, empirical ethics as a solution and Busara’s agenda on ethical research. An insight he mentioned is that sharing results with participants in a feedback study makes them feel treated more respectfully. To discover more of his insights, you can rewatch Joels session here.
Feedback and Equity: Connecting the Dots
For this session Juan Clavijo of ORS Impact looked into the connection between feedback and equity for nonprofits. The goal at ORS Impact is to clarify the conceptual connection between the two by bringing forth practical examples and looking for patterns to support nonprofits and funders in better understanding what to look for, what to focus on, and how to create feedback practices that support equity work.
What's the connection between #feedback and #equity? Juan Clavijo of @orsimpact worked with 6 nonprofits implementing quality #feedback loops to find this connection and described his findings at the #FBLSummit. Learn more about this study in Juan's blog: https://t.co/cUI88G2BwL
— Feedback Labs (@FeedbackLabs) March 7, 2022
Juan explained that feedback can act as a catalyst, a mirror and a compass. Feedback is a catalyst in the sense that it provides a spark to get things going, a mirror in a way that it is an accountability tool to identify gaps and a compass because it leaves room to explore and set direction for how to address inequities. You can rewatch the entire session here.
So as you read, many interesting topics were discussed virtually!
