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Greeting from Pakistan,
Hope you are fine.
I am planning to do a study on Measuring the intervention of policy into the practise by social innovation ventures in Pakistan. I came across your website. It seems its a right match for what i am looking for and what you have worked on.
I am writing this email for two purposes.

1. My main research objective is to study whether the social ventures team are implementing the research into their policies and practice or not? particularly related to Implementation or alignment of projects to UNSDGs.

2. Please let me know suitable framework so that i can assess social innovation projects contribution/practice level to UNSDGs. how can i use the framework for my study? How to use it? Is this a question based or content analysis method?

Please advise. Anxious to hear from you.
Answer:

 
Hi Waqar,
 
Welcome to the Community Tool Box (CTB) and Ask an Advisor, we’re very glad you chose to visit us, for your interesting questions, and for your enthusiasm in wanting to conduct a research study, kudos to you.  I’m afraid I have a bit of bad news in that what you’re asking is a bit outside my realm of expertise as an advisor and the scope of the CTB.  However, I do offer some CTB resources (see below) which might be of some assistance to you.  Before I get to those, I think a brief primer is in order to explain a bit about the CTB and Ask an Advisor as they relate to what you’re asking of us: the CTB is a free, online resource for those working to build healthier communities and bring about social change, offering thousands of pages of tips and tools for taking action in communities. The vision behind the Community Tool Box is that people — locally and globally — are better prepared to work together to change conditions that affect their lives. Our mission is to promote community health and development by connecting people, ideas, and resources. With the belief that people can change their communities for the better, and informed by disciplines including applied behavior analysis, public health, and community psychology, partners at the University of Kansas and collaborating organizations developed the Community Tool Box as a public service.  The advisor, in this case, me, finds resources within the CTB in the form of chapters rich with information, toolkits with nuts and bolts, how to get stuff done information with examples, and community stories from people just like you who have done what you want to do, while drawing upon my own community building work to help you come up with the answers you're looking for.  In short, the advisor provides links to information in the CTB or from elsewhere if necessary, it is then up to you to sort through and determine the information likely to be the most relevant and helpful. If the advisor thinks her/his own experience might be helpful too then that's added into the mix. Make sense?
 
Although your particular request is, as I said, a bit beyond the scope of what we are able to accommodate because we don’t offer advice on how to conduct research studies directly related to the SDGs or how to develop a monitoring and evaluation framework that will determine the extent to which an intervention aligns with the SDGs, as I mentioned the CTB does have some resources which might prove useful to you.  The resources of which I speak include four chapters and one toolkit from our Evaluating Community Programs and Initiatives section which provides information on using evaluation to understand and improve any initiative along with foundational information about evaluation more generally.  All you need do is click on the links below and it will take you right where you need to go.  I suggest reading through all the sections in chapters 37, 38, and 39, and toolkit 12 to give you an idea as to how to approach your research, which is actually evaluation. 
 

 
Given that I was not able to fully answer your questions, and think that the CTB resources I offered will only be marginally helpful, which I do feel bad about because of the faith you’ve put in us, I do have another suggestion for you: talk with faculty and staff you might know in the Lahore Garrison University’s Development Program of International Relations and Political Science Department, specifically Drs. Esan and Haider who are experts in International Relations and who might point you in a better direction than I am able to do.  You might even talk to Dr. Rana in your own department as her expertise is, among others, research. After rooting around in LGU I came up with another, even better idea, finding a monitoring and evaluation expert in Lahore with whom you might connect.  That I did.  Via LinkedIn I found M. Junaid Akhtar who is a M.Junaid has a account monitoring and evaluation specialist in the Program Implementation Unit, P&D Department Punjab located in Lahore.  I couldn’t find his contact information, but I’m sure you know the lay of the land and can easily track down Mr. Akhtar.     
 
With that Waqar, I apologize for not being able to offer you better advice, as I said, a bit out of my depth.  Do talk to the faculty members and Mr. Akhtar as I suggested as they will likely be able to point you in a better direction than I.  On behalf of the CTB I wish you the best of success in all your endeavors and do hope I’ve been of some use.  Be well.
 
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Question Date: Wed, 09/30/2020