Where to Start? Workbooks for Evaluating Democratic Engagement Impacts

Democracy is more than politics. Its values and practices are core to our civil societies. The skills and values that uphold democratic systems and engagement are a part of every program, educational opportunity, and service. Everything individuals and organizations do either weaken or help strengthen and improve democratic societies. 

"How can we know if programs help or hinder participants' democratic engagement?" "What ideas should I embed into my program?" "What should I ask my participants?" "How do we know if one program is more effective than another?" These are questions often heard by the SFU Morris J. Wosk Centre for Dialogue Strengthening Canadian Democracy Initiative (the Initiative).

To help answer these questions, the Initiative created, Where to Start? A Workbook for Evaluating Democratic Engagement Impacts. This easy step-by-step guide walks you through evaluating how programs shift participants' views of democracy and democratic engagement. Overwhelmed by the idea of evaluations or don't know what to ask to find out what your participants believe about democratic engagement? This guide is your starting point. 

Democracy is a complex topic, with many elements and moving parts that can make it difficult to measure the impact of a strategy or program. To make it easier, the workbook uses clear markers and teaches you ways to collect data to show how and why something works. Instead of only asking questions about the big topic of democracy, we've developed questions that apply to five core principles of democratic engagement: build capacity to participate, foster commitment to democratic values, deepen relationships and social connections, be equitable and caring, and establish accountability. 

This workbook:

• Helps you think about how your program relates to democratic values and culture.
• Helps you identify why you should do open-ended interviews, focus groups, a pre- and post-survey or a randomized controlled trial.
• Gives you a ready-made survey.
• Provides templates, exercises, considerations and checklists.
• Guides you through the evaluation process from beginning to end.