Barefoot Impact Assessment
Contents |
Strengths:
- Provides a holistic view of the radio
- Community-based
- Empowering potential
- Can be carried out on a very limited budget.
Weaknesses:
- Requires good level of management for regularity
- Danger of loosing institutional experience
- Community researchers might influence data collection and treatment
Limitations:
- Need for facilitator to begin the process
- Most usefulness when carried out regularly
Short description:
The Barefoot Impact Assessment methodology assesses impact at three levels:
(1) internal governance and functioning; (2) community satisfaction with programming content; and (3) social change; impact on community life.
Used to:
Map the functioning and impact of the community radio in three central impact areas. The focus of the tool is to be practical and useful, to offer the communities a tool for their own regular assessment of where they are. Having tools to gain such an insight can be important for empowerment and sustainability.
How to put into practice:
It is recommended to carry out these impact assessments on an annual basis, and to have a facilitator to introduce the process and to assist in documenting and analyzing the results the first couple of times. While a check list is available to systematize the work with the first aspect of the methodology, most of this work with be interview-based. A number of tools and techniques are proposed to regularly assess the second area including satisfaction with programmes. Anything from documenting listener reactions to the station; soliciting comments when selling messages to community members; and to random interviews during public events. For the third and final aspect, focus groups discussions with identified important segments of the community are good, including: young women, young men, adult women, adult men, urban based audiences, rural audiences – and other locally important groups. More details in article referred to below.
Examples:
Online resources:
”Assessing community change: development of a ‘bare foot’ impact assessment methodology”, by Birgitte Jallov in Radio Journal, Volume 3:1 July 1995. http://www.comminit.com/pdf/ImpactAssessment-FinalRadioJournalVersion.pdf
Author(s):
Birgitte Jallov
Contributions from:
