Outcome harvesting as a methodology for the retrospective evaluation of small-scale community development interventions

PURPOSE: Undertaking evaluations of public health interventions can be problematic, particularly where there are multiple stakeholders and high degrees of complexity. This is especially true with regards to the evaluation of community interventions that can include multiple actors with differing priorities, budgets and resources. Using the example of a place-based community wellbeing project, this paper discusses the practical application of 'Outcome Harvesting' as a methodology for retrospective, responsive and collaborative evaluation in public health research. RESULTS: Our example shows that Outcome Harvesting can be effectively applied to the evaluation of community development initiatives and is likely to have potential in evaluating public health interventions more generally. Our case study also found it was well suited to retrospective evaluation, although the earlier the work can begin the more beneficial it is in understanding the project and in gathering sufficient data. CONCLUSION: Outcome Harvesting shows promise for evaluating community development initiatives, allowing evaluators to work closely with key stakeholders to arrive at a mutually agreed and verifiable set of outcomes. However, challenges remain with regards to engaging a broad range of participants and with ensuring adequate time and resources are available to evaluate initiatives effectively.