What is a Documentarian?: A Mirror for Organizational Learning and Capacity Building
A documentarian documents the process of funded project activities that will be subject to formal evaluation. The documentation of project processes—including group dynamics, decision-making, and leadership assumption—assists the fiscal sponsor and project team in: 1) continuous improvement of project processes for early and mid-course correction, and 2) to provide information that can be used to ultimately tell the story of the project to peers and stakeholders. This demonstration session outlines the work of a documentarian, highlighting the methodological skills, evaluator competencies, and consultative approaches necessary to speak truth to power in organizational learning and capacity building. Evaluator attendees will consider how to leverage their backgrounds and experiences to fill this role, whether internal or external to a hiring organization. Fiscal sponsor and evaluation management attendees will learn how to articulate the value proposition of a documentarian to evaluation funders, project management, project staff, advisory committees, and communities served.