“We Can” is an organization that seeks to improve children’s nutrition through various awareness movements

"We Can" is an association that aims to enhance the nutrition of children through different movements of awareness ("About We Can!", 2017). A variety of variables relating to the organization's functionality have to be determined in order to analyze such an organization. Next, a good understanding of the organization's key goals should be outlined. The targets would include details on the target demographic of the organization and the recommended methods set out by the organization. In addition, improvement in the current strategies is also needed to determine the capacity and constraints of the current strategies to achieve the objectives. Such information would be required from both sides of the divide in that the target audience and the organization would provide two separate data sets on the functioning and impact of the organization with regards to its objectives.

What kinds of questions would be most important to answer?

According to (McNamara, n.d.) one of the key questions dwells on the relevance of the evaluation itself. The question on what is the purpose of the evaluation, provides an answer that will provide guidance on what is expected at the end of the study. By understanding the core purpose of the evaluation, relevant strategies can be constructed to evaluate the effectiveness of the program. From then, other questions such as what is the target audience of the movement and the desired impact are also important in the overall evaluation of the organization.

What approach to program evaluation would be most appropriate?

In order to evaluate the effectiveness of the “We Can” program, the best approach would be the Outcome based evaluation. Outcome based evaluation is widely applied in non-profit organizations that have a target objective (McNamara, n.d.). By evaluating the outcome of the organization’s program, a person can clearly visualize the significance of the program. The strategies in place would be analyzed with respect to the benefits they have to the target population.

What kinds of outcomes and indicators would you include?

The outcomes and indicators that can be included in the evaluation are related to the general perceptions of the target audience. Factors such as the improved health condition of the children, perceptions of the public on the effectiveness of the movement and the improved knowledge on the subject matter are examples of important indicators of the evaluation.

What challenges might be encountered

Program evaluations on non-profit organizations have a number of challenges that may be encountered. Evaluating the impact of movements such as “We Can” is mainly based on the feelings of the audience which are known to be dynamic and dependent on a number of factors. Evaluating the success of the program will prove to be a hard task due to the unreliable nature of people’s opinions. Moreover, the program only specializes on one aspect of healthcare which is nutrition. This disregards the other factors that come into play when determining the health of an individual. Nevertheless, these limitations can be countered by performing a more detailed evaluation that is specific to the target audience.

References

About We Can!, NHLBI, NIH. (2017). Nhlbi.nih.gov. Retrieved 5 November 2017, from

https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/educational/wecan/about-wecan/index.htm

McNamara, C. Basic Guide to Program Evaluation (Including Outcomes Evaluation). Free

Management Library. Retrieved 19 October 2017, from https://managementhelp.org/evaluation/program-evaluation-guide.htm