Research & Evaluation
COVIAN researchers can design and conduct studies to inform policy or strategic decisions and increase knowledge about a particular issue or situation. Research based on your program could be presented in local and international conferences and disseminated in academic journals. Our services in this area include:
- Design of survey questions and other data collection tools
- Focus groups and key informant interviews
- Design and implementation of non experimental, quasi experimental and experimental studies
- Basic and advanced data analysis such as structural equation modeling and linear regression
- Design cross sectional and longitudinal studies
- Development of summative and formative evaluation plans, including evaluation questions
- Design of advance evaluation designs such as developmental evaluation
Capacity Building
Capacity building techniques and tools are necessary for an organization to recognize its strengths and identify its weakness. Covian Consulting can help you to take your organization in achieving its mission by providing capacity building in:
- Strategic planning
- Training in areas such as program development, program evaluation, leadership, cultural competence, and more!
- Grant researching, writing, and management
- Program sustainability, how to build a sustainable model for success
- Building and evaluating inter-agency collaboration and partnerships
- Human resources
- Financial management
- Volunteer management and volunteers manual
Communication
Having a well-planned communication strategy is critical to the success of your program. Covian can guide your communication strategies through:
- Research on target audiences or clients
- Message development for prevention or promotional campaigns
- Pilot testing of communication messages on target audiences
- Communication campaign strategies
- Development of internal communication plans, which may include a cultural competence component
- Design of culturally competent training and advocacy materials
Board Games for Social Change
Complicated social issues often require creative solutions, and here at Covian we believe in the power of play. Social change board games allow people to learn to change their behaviors through role-taking in a fun, safe environment. At Covian, we have experience developing these types of games with communities, for communities.
- Research on social issues in target populations
- Expertise in game development, theory, and design
- Community participatory action research strategies
- Facilitation strategies for community listening
Our Approach
Research & Evaluation
Organizations are effective when they establish reasonable and measurable goals, design activities around a logic model, possess the skills and resources they need, are culturally competent, and have mechanisms in place to monitor progress. We help programs and partnerships work effectively via planning and implementation of evaluation and research designs. We use both quantitative (surveys, measurements, database analysis, statistical modeling) and qualitative (interviews/focus groups, observations) methods. We also practice the principles of community based participatory research (CBPR), and value the community members as equal partners in the research process.
Capacity Building
We focus on internal and external capacity building to assist organizations in having the necessary tools and knowledge to achieve its missions. Internal capacity refers to internal processes such as human resources, financial practices, leadership, staff capacity training etc. External capacity deals with relationship between individuals such as interagency collaboration, organizational culture and relationship with funders (Hudson, 2005).
Communication
We focus on results-oriented strategic communication that takes into account local context, motivation of the target audience and goals of the communication effort. We help clients analyze and segment their audiences, set objectives, and develop appropriate communication strategies.