Nan Wehipeihana (Research Evaluation Consultancy | Kinnect Group), Judy Oakden (Kinnect Group), Kahiwa Sebire (Invalue Consulting)
In 2020 and 2021, the NZ Ministry of Health launched an equity-focused programme intended to positively effect the influenza vaccination rates of Māori. In the background, COVID-19 meant policy and operational decisions across all levels of the health system were changing rapidly. Learning 'on-the-run' was crucial to successful outcomes. The Ministry sought an evaluation partner that would track and unpack vaccination rates, contributing factors, and, importantly, equity for Māori as the programme rolled out.
We developed a new approach, Rapid Insight Cycles (RICs), to bring the best mix of available data, evidence and analytic insights to the Ministry at regular intervals. RICs are an agile and iterative approach, responding to information questions that emerge over the evaluation and weaving answers to the overall evaluation questions with each cycle.
In this panel, we will present RICs and discuss the experience of using them as an evaluation approach. The panel will discuss:
- How the evaluators manage resources, adapt methods, and respond to the timing needs? How they maintain a clear line of sight on the key evaluation questions and intended evaluation outcomes while adapting?
- What is the value of small, frequent data collection cycles and presenting findings regularly? What are the challenges and considerations of determining which data is presented to the client, when sharing all the data is not feasible?
- Why was collaborative sense-making powerful in reflecting on and informing equity-focused decisions?
