“In order to meet the Foundation’s objectives, we work based on a model that ensures the quality of its programs through the use of permanent evidence and evaluation methodologies”. In this way, Macarena Cea, director of the Evaluation and Measurement area of the Luksic Foundation, explains the role of her area in the execution and implementation of the different initiatives and projects.
One of the objectives of the Luksic Foundation is to create sustainable changes that boost people’s life trajectories. To achieve this purpose, in 2020 the Foundation created the Evaluation and Impact Measurement area, led by Macarena Cea, who explains that different methodologies are applied according to the development stage of each program: problem statement, design evaluation, implementation evaluation, results evaluation and impact measurement.
“The first step was to ask ourselves what was the problem being addressed by the Foundation’s programs, whether they were current, what size they were and whether there was duplication, the latter referring to whether the interventions we were providing were the same as those provided by another foundation, provider or even the State,” says Macarena. She adds: “From the Evaluation area we try to implement a culture of love for the problem. We are facilitators and articulators, we work in an integral and collaborative way on the various social challenges and that is what we try to transmit in the search for relevant solutions”.
Between 2020 and 2021, 25 study and evaluation processes were carried out: designs, redesigns, implementation evaluations, information surveys before implementing the programs and when they end with the objective of detecting eventual improvements, through pre-post information analysis. “One of our achievements is that the programs we have redesigned, such as Impulso Chileno and Reyes de Barrio, have had an effective implementation, with satisfactory results, which indicates that we are on the right track,” says the director of the area. By 2022 it is expected to reach a total of 23 or more evaluation processes.
Macarena Cea has an outstanding track record and 15 years of work experience in the public and private sectors. She comments that at Fundación Luksic she has not only been able to lead a high quality evaluation, but for the first time she has been able to experience how an evaluation generates improvements in a program in just one cycle. “I am very gratified because I believe it is a concrete work and has results that will have an impact on the lives of the people who benefit from the different initiatives. We all want them to do better and that fills your soul,” she says proudly.
Upcoming challenges
Regarding the area’s objectives and future challenges, Macarena comments that by the end of this year the first impact results of the Education area program, “Aspirations for the Future”, will be available, and the evaluation of “Impulso Chileno”, which is part of the Entrepreneurship area, will be implemented in conjunction with JPal, a research center specialized in impact evaluations. On the other hand, she says that work is being done on “Knowledge Management”, which consists of the creation of documents that clearly and succinctly transfer the knowledge that has been generated as a result of the Foundation’s evaluations, and serve as input for other entities, foundations, civil society organizations, and even -in the long term- for the State.
Finally, the director of the area reflects on the Foundation’s work: “It is a precious work, with a social vocation, which seeks to generate opportunities and increase the levels of wellbeing of the people with whom we work. It is not just about increasing a number. I believe that in what we do day by day there is a genuine spirit of being a better country, we are working for that, it is a tremendous opportunity and we have the duty to do it well”.
