Stories from Field: Program Evaluation Analysis
Overview
All We Are recently collaborated with University of Cincinnati’s Program Evaluation Master’s students to assess the impact of our projects, using a technique called photovoice.
In March of 2022, three members of the All We Are Ugandan Team conducted the photovoice interviews over the course of approximately 10 days. In addition to collecting the photos from twenty-eight participants, the Ugandan Team recorded the photovoice sessions, and shared them with the Program Evaluation Students.
The UC team found that — although primarily focused on schools and healthcare centers as install sites — All We Are’s impact extends far beyond academics or vaccinations. In some areas, the very culture of the community is changing. Students are pouring more time and effort into their academics, because they know they will have consistent light to study. Community members feel safer because dark paths which were previously occupied by robbers and vandals are now well-lit. The combination of increased parental confidence and lower lighting expenses have afforded headmasters the ability to make capital improvements — including expansion and remodeling of schools.
Excerpts
Below are a few excerpts from the photovoice interviews as recorded by the Program Evaluation Students, accompanied by the photos taken by interviewees.
“Even the enrollment of the pupils has increased — as you see, there are many right now. So we thank All We Are, that they have given us a solar system.”
“People are now reading at night, people are now reading early in the morning and the pupils’ number has increased. Even we are getting better grades because we are using the solar lights which are provided by AWA which is good, and is good for our community. ”
“We have also saved some money so that we can construct and renovate a classroom… so that other people can sit in the classroom without dust. And [we] also have money…to put on a door.”
Conclusions
Among the 28 participants, five are headmasters, four are parents of students, seven are students, five are teachers, two are community leaders, three are community members, one is a nurse, and one is a patient.
The narrative data from photovoice sessions and interviews were analyzed. As part of the thematic analysis, the transcripted data was organized into nine themes and two subthemes. The themes are listed in order of frequency (highest to lowest), and explained individually below. In addition, there are quotes extracted from the transcripts, serving as examples of each theme and subtheme.
1) Thank you, AWA came up the most frequent with 22 mentions:
“…I am here to thank you — to give you the vote of thanks that helped us to bring the safety into our community. Thank you, All We Are, for the job that you are delivering to all the people.”
2) Improved School/Setting with New Projects (15) was the second most frequent theme. The participants expressed how their local school or health center had been improved due to the addition of solar systems allowing them to complete more improvement projects or otherwise improve their school or health center:
“…which means that we are no longer having any problem with light. So, the money we have been spending on electricity — now we are saving that money. We tried to construct a bigger latrine for girls”
“I realized after the installation of solar, there were improvements in this school — like the construction of a new dormitory after the improvement in the number of boarding students in this school.”
2.1) Subtheme: Seven mentions of a school/health center having been able to save extra capital because the solar systems to contribute to these projects:
“And now, we bought some books, as you are going to see in the clip, which has made our learners to understand more, and their performance has grown to another level.”
“The money which they had used to buy candles and Kerosene — they saved that money to get us windows and doors. Then after the solar, everything is okay. We have magnetic doors and metallic windows — even lights in our classrooms.”
2.2) Subtheme: Three mentions of improved health center operations out of the two health center-related participants interviewed:
“…The issues of having doctors, nurses, and helping to give birth to babies without lights is no longer there. You may even find there are many services at Kitimba. The services improved ever since we got solar…”
3) Increased safety was the third most popular theme, with a frequency of 13 mentions:
“But because there is light, there is security; we are able to safeguard these things. In fact, for the entire school, we are proud of the security that is provided because of the solar panels that we have.”
4) Increased attendance to and attractiveness of participants’ local school/health centers was next in frequency with 12 mentions:
“… So it has attracted more people to bring kids at this school because of this constant light, and the environment, at large. So, I am imparting this organization to take this program to other areas — like hospitals; like other schools; like other public areas.”
5) Feeling happier/improved wellbeing with 10 mentions:
“Even the students — they feel very happy, because they can move freely from their dormitories to their classrooms [during night] without fear of any issue at school.”
6) Improved academic performance, with nine mentions:
“So, after installation of the solar system, these are changing now. Not only in performance but also in security. Then, on the side of performance, before solar the performance was really poor. Reading, the way they get marks or study were not good at all. But these days after solar installations they have changed. Today they can read, they can express themselves and because they come from various areas, mostly at night, they come around here to do their homeworks, they read, they come early. So that helps to better performance. After solar, increases in our school the numbers, because by the time I came here, the numbers (or pupils) were 200 and now we are more than 300.”
7) The ability to achieve more, with eight mentions:
“…I thank, first and foremost, All We Are, for the solar they gave us some time back. It has helped us a lot. 1 — It has provided us with enough light overnight. [Students] can read overnight, and those students of second school — they can come and access the light, which is in the class. Of course, we leave them open for others also, to study. Before giving us the solar it was difficult for our children to read overnight, and early in the morning, but now it is possible. We thank All We Are and all the Rotary members for that initiative…”
8) Telling others about AWA/solar, with two mentions:
“Ever since All We Are came, it forced me to tell more and more other people around me now we go to Kitimba Health Center.”
Thank you to the UC Program Evaluation Photovoice Group for this unique perspective on our work! We would also like to thank Dr. Erinn Green and Dr. Stacie Furst Holloway for facilitating this opportunity for All We Are.
