Research
The Robert Bowne Foundation
The Robert Bowne Foundation supports the development of quality programs that offer literacy education to children and yo
uth of New York City, in the out-of-school hours, especially for those living in economically disadvantaged neighborhoods. The Robert Bowne Foundation Participatory Evaluation Institute (PEI) is an ongoing initiative that builds the capacities of out-of-school time programs by providing staff members with intensive evaluation training and one-on-one consultations.
The objectives of PEI are to support programs to: better understand the uses and practices of evaluation; integrate evaluation and reflective practice into their work; use evaluation process and findings to improve programs; and more accurately articulate their program models. There have been three distinct phases for this training.
Phase one of the PEI occurred over eighteen months from Winter 2003 to Spring 2004 and served nine programs. Phase two occurred for eighteen months from Winter 2004 to Spring 2005 and served seventeen different programs. Phase three occurred over eight months and served over forty different programs.
Kim Sabo Consulting worked in collaboration with Robert Bowne Foundation staff members to conceptualize and implement all PEI activities.
Read Kim Sabo Flores’ article on developing quality after school programs.
The Bruner Foundation was established in New York in 1963 by Rudy Bruner. As an immigrant to New York from Europe, Mr. Bruner built a successful metals company that grew from a small operation in a Brooklyn basement to a multi-million dollar public corporation. Throughout his life, Rudy Bruner was known for his great compassion for people, particularly those less fortunate than himself. Together with his wife Martha, he established the Bruner Foundation to create opportunity for others, and to instigate meaningful social change.
ETHOS (Evaluative Thinking in Organizations Study) grew out of the
Rochester Effectiveness Partnership (REP). In 2003, Bruner Foundation, two evaluation partners, and twelve social service provider organizations began a year-long interactive study.
ETHOS was guided by the following questions:
oWhat does evaluative thinking look like within various organizational capacity areas?
oHow are evaluative thinking and organizational effectiveness related?
oWhat is needed to enhance and broaden evaluative thinking?
Senior management staff members or CEOs from each participating organization met together six times to further define evaluative thinking, to develop the ETHOS Evaluative Thinking Assessment Tool, to discuss findings across sites and to further reflect on the process of assessing, sustaining and extending evaluative thinking in their organizations. In addition, the ETHOS partners arranged for, oversaw and participated in ETHOS site visits to their organizations, reviewed their organization’s assessment findings and helped develop action plans to promote evaluative thinking. Kim Sabo Flores Consulting acted as a key evaluation partner in this initiative.
UNICEF
Evaluation of The Child Friendly Municipality Initiative (MAN) of the Dominican Republic. FUNDED BY UNICEF
In January 2006, UNICEF Dominican Republic contracted the Kim Sabo Consu
lting in collaboration with the Children’s Environments Research Group (CERG) of the Graduate Center of the City University of New York to conduct a rapid evaluation of the La Iniciativa Municipios Amigos de la Ninez (MAN) or “Child Friendly Municipality Initiative.”
The two main purposes of this evaluation were:
•To carry out a rapid evaluation to determine the pertinence, efficaciousness, efficiency, and impact of the Child Friendly Municipalities Initiative in assuring children’s rights in the local context.
•To make recommendations about the modifications and changes that should be introduced into the Child Friendly Municipalities Initiative to contribute to the elaboration of the new program for UNICEF cooperation in the framework of UNDAF and the progress towards the Millennium Development Goals and the Medium Term Priorities of UNICEF for the period 2006-2009.
UNODC
United Nations Office on Drug Control
Together with my colleague Selim Iltus, we developed playful instruments for young people in thirty-three countries to assess the drug culture in their communities and evaluate their own drug prevention programs. The instruments were much like board games in which young people worked together to gather information (words, photos, drawing, etc.) about their communities and programs and then added this data directly on the game boards in order to advance though the entire game. Based on all of the information gathered, we 
wrote two position youth-friendly cartoon papers for an international youth conference (the UNDCP Youth Vision Jeunesse in Alberta).
These two papers brought all of the youth’s data together and supported them to talk about and compare their experiences. The result of this conference was a set of recommendations that was presented to the General Assembly special session on Drugs in 1998.
