Listening to the voice of citizens, communities, employees, or partners is central to the work of Voices That Count. Based on our international experience in monitoring, evaluation, communication, research and participatory processes, we support the use of narrative-based methods for different purposes.
Listening for the bigger picture
This is what we can support you with
Citizen participation
We enjoy working with municipalities and city administrations that want to meaningfully engage with their citizens. Would you like to understand how your citizens experience living in the city, town or neighborhood? Are you curious about how people perceive new services or initiatives? Or do you want to actively involve citizens in a neighborhood development or transition process?
With narrative pulses or large-scale listening methods, we support you in capturing and understanding people’s voices, including those who often go unheard. We co-design narrative inquiry methodologies and look together at how they can be embedded in your citizen participation and dialogue processes.
Monitoring, Evaluation & Learning (MEL)
We support not-for-profit organisations, social enterprises and governments to develop learning-oriented monitoring and evaluation systems. We start from existing organisational dynamics and processes and integrate approaches that generate actionable insights supporting adaptive management. Our work is inspired by actor-centered and participatory MEL approaches such as Outcome Mapping.
We specialise in narrative-based inquiry and sensemaking methodologies such as Outcome Harvesting, SenseMaker, Photovoice and Most Significant Change Stories. We always start from what people know, do, see and experience. In that way, listening to your target group, becomes a valuable and lasting learning experience for your organisation.
Voices That Count also collaborates with evaluators to support the use of narrative methodologies as part of mixed-method evaluations and impact studies.
“Measure or track the progress of your initiatives
by capturing people’s experiences.”
Strategic planning and programme design
Do you value listening to your target audience, constituents, partners or broader network as part of your organisational design or strategic planning?
We support projects and organisations to use people’s daily life experiences and ideas to guide strategic directions and future actions. We evoke narrative feedback from people to better map the context or to understand what matters to them.
“Understand what matters to your citizens, employees or partners
by listening to real-life stories.”
Participatory action-research
Do you want to embrace participatory narrative-based methods into your action-research projects?
We bring people’s voices to the surface through deep listening and participatory photography to generate actionable insights. We do not only capture useful data or understand change processes, but also support you in fostering meaningful conversations and sensemaking that connect people and generate problem-solving strategies. Our narrative-based methods can support and frame your participatory action-research process.
Citizen science
Are you planning a study or research with the participation of citizens? And is your citizen science initiative interested in the experience of people around a specific topic (e.g. neighbourhood liveability, elderly care, traffic experience, etc…), complementing quantitative data? We can help you set-up a human sensor network within a specific community or geographical area to capture, map and understand peoples’ perception in real-time while facilitating dialogue among participants.
Celebrate your organisation
Do you wish to celebrate your network or organisation’s anniversary? Or do you want to share your organisational achievements with the world? Through our narrative-based methods we can help you unlock the collective memory of your organisation or bring your impact story to life. Together we look at the best ways to communicate your successes or memories in words, audio or video.
Inspired? Want to discuss your ideas or challenges you face in your organisation?
Get in touch
Write us at contact@voicesthatcount.net
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