Explore Scoring Rubric and Scoring Process
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Scoring Process
Has the organization meaningfully contributed to the improvement of women’s health? Is the organization’s approach intentionally designed to advance women’s health in a more efficient or effective way?
INCONSEQUENTIAL
1 -> Organization does not demonstrate any contributions to the improvement of women’s health. Approach is not effective. Organization’s vision for impact is not feasible or practical.
2 -> Organization demonstrates contributions to incremental improvements in women’s health. Approach is somewhat effective. Organization’s vision for impact is vague and could use additional refinement.
3 -> Organization demonstrates contributions to notable improvements in women’s health. Approach is effective. Organization’s vision for impact makes sense.
4 -> Organization has made significant contributions to the improvement of women’s health and demonstrates its impact with information and examples, including formal or informal studies, observations, and/or other indicators of change as defined by its community. Approach is effective and somewhat efficient. Organization’s vision for impact is thoughtful and realistic.
5 -> Organization’s work has transformed the health of the women it serves and demonstrates its impact with robust information and examples, including formal or informal studies, observations, and/or other indicators of change as defined by its community. Approach has proven to be both efficient and effective. Organization’s vision for impact is convincing, realistic, and thorough. Mechanisms for learning and assessment are in place.
TRANSFORMATIONAL
Does the organization have potential and a clear pathway to expand or replicate its work to improve health for more women? Does the team have a sustainable vision for this growth, including demonstrating an understanding of how their organization fits into broader efforts?
LIMITED
1 -> Organization does not have the potential to expand or replicate its work and is unprepared for scaling. Team does not understand how their organization fits into broader efforts.
2 -> Organization has the potential to expand but only through significant changes to its approach and structure. Team has a vague vision for growth. Understanding of how their organization fits into broader efforts is limited.
3 -> Organization has a pathway to expand or replicate its work. Team has a vision for growth that does not include plans for leveraging partnerships or building on the work of other organizations. Team demonstrates some understanding of how their organization fits into broader efforts.
4 -> Organization has a pathway to expand or replicate its work. Team presents a sustainable vision for growth, including bringing in new partners so that they are building on the work of other organizations in the contexts to which they will expand. Team demonstrates an understanding of how their organization fits into broader efforts and will likely add value to the ecosystem working on the same issues.
5 ->Organization has a clear pathway to expand or replicate its work that includes leveraging existing partnerships and building on the work of other organizations working in the contexts in which they will expand. Team has a convincing, sustainable vision for its growth and demonstrates a nuanced understanding of how their organization fits into broader efforts and adds value to the ecosystem working on the same issues.
EXTENSIVE
Does the organization increase access, power, or knowledge for women for a community, issue, or group that is under-resourced? Is the organization’s approach informed and supported by the community it seeks to serve?
INEQUITABLE
1 -> Organization has not increased access, power, or knowledge for a community, issue, or group that is under-resourced. Little to no evidence that community supports or informs the organization’s approach.
2 -> Organization works with a community, issue, or group that is under-resourced, but does not seek to increase their access, power, or knowledge. Impacted community is involved, but the collaboration is vague or tangential to the organization’s work.
3 -> Organization has somewhat increased access, power, or knowledge for a community, issue or group that is under-resourced, though this is not the organization’s primary aim. Impacted community is included in providing feedback, but not in decision-making positions.
4 -> Organization has increased access, power, or knowledge for a community, issue, or group that is under-resourced. Impacted communities are in some decision-making positions, defining the problem and envisioning success.
5 -> Organization is dedicated to and has demonstrably succeeded at significantly increasing access, power, or knowledge for a community, issue, or group that has been under-resourced. Leadership knowledgeably and passionately represents the community it seeks to serve. Incorporation of community feedback and action are core to organization’s approach.
EQUITABLE
Does the team have the skills, capacity, knowledge, and/or lived experience to ensure the organization’s continued success, or do they have a plan to build those skills? Is the work designed to be adaptive to shifting conditions and unpredictable events?
LIMITED
1 -> Team lacks required skills, knowledge, and experience, or plans to build that capacity and organization is unlikely to continue successfully. Approach is inflexible.
2 -> Team has basic skills, capacity, knowledge, and/or experience to continue current efforts. Approach does not allow for much adaptivity.
3 -> Team has solid skills, capacity, knowledge, and/or experience and an appetite for continued growth, fostering an expansion of current efforts. Approach includes some space for adaptivity.
4 -> Team has robust skills, capacity, knowledge, and/or experience, all of which have contributed to the development of the organization’s work. Approach is intentionally adaptable.
5 -> Team exceeds expectations of depth of skills, capacity, knowledge, and/or experience requisite to do the work and continue the organization’s successful evolution. Approach is highly adaptive and has been shown to be responsive.
ROBUST
Reducing Bias in the Assessment Process
Lever for Change addresses possible biases in the evaluation process both on the front end, before the scoring begins, and on the back end, after the reviewers have submitted their scores.
On the front end, Lever for Change’s Participatory Review and Evaluation Panel Review webinars review the Challenge criteria and the scoring rubric and includes training on recognizing and addressing the biases that we all bring as we read and assess proposals.
Lever for Change also works to address unconscious bias inherent in the scoring process.
During both Participatory Review and Evaluation Panel Review, each reviewer only reviews a very small subsample of the entire set of applications. Therefore, each reviewer has a very different reference point by which to adjudicate each application. For example, a reviewer may only see very good applications. Because these applications are of similarly good quality, the reviewer may decide to score these applications lower than they deserve. By contrast, a reviewer that only sees poor applications may give better scores on average. Furthermore, reviewers may have intrinsic cognitive biases. Even under ideal conditions, reviewers are prone to making non-objective judgements about the applications they review, and so Lever for Change normalizes the raw scores provided by our evaluators to reduce the risk that bias in the assessment process eliminates a strong application from consideration.
Normalization relies on finding the mean score given for all applications and the mean score given by each reviewer. Reviewers whose mean score is higher than the global average will have their scores devalued to account for whatever biases led to inflated scores. Similarly, reviewers whose scores are lower than the global average will have their scores boosted to compensate for their tougher-than-average assessments.
The scoring process will be conducted at two points during the Challenge process: first, after the conclusion of Participatory Review and, later, after the conclusion of Evaluation Panel Review. A submission that ranks among the top applications, as determined by Participatory Review scores, will be eligible to advance to Evaluation Panel Review. A submission that ranks among the top applications, as determined by Evaluation Panel Review scores, will be reviewed by technical experts and may be considered for selection as a finalist.
As a further risk mitigation step, Lever for Change staff review reviewers’ scores and comments for every submission.
If at any point in the process, it is determined that an applicant does not meet the eligibility criteria of the Open Call as laid out in the Open Call Rules, the applicant will be notified and will not be eligible to progress to further stages of the Open Call.
Find more technical information in our Help Center.