Practitioners Exchange · 7–9 July 2026 · Arusha, Tanzania
Programme at a Glance
ⓘ Hover over a session to see more details (facilitators & session brief).
What is this session about?
Artificial intelligence is rapidly changing the way we work. But what does this mean for Outcome Harvesting? Where can AI add value, what should remain uniquely human, and how can we use AI responsibly in ways that align with the principles of Outcome Harvesting?
Whether you are already experimenting with AI or are simply curious, this session invites practitioners to collectively explore the opportunities, limitations and implications of AI for OH practice.
What will you do?
Reflect on your own experiences with AI, engage in interactive discussions with fellow practitioners, and contribute to shaping a shared vision for AI-enabled Outcome Harvesting. Short provocations by the facilitators will introduce key ideas and stimulate discussion on AI capabilities, human judgement, and responsible use in OH.
What will you take away?
Participants will leave with concrete ideas for using AI in OH, a clearer understanding of what human roles remain essential, and a set of emerging principles and open questions to guide the responsible use of AI in Outcome Harvesting.
What is this session about?
The session is about using Outcome Harvesting data in project / programme reporting to donors and other stakeholders. It will contain examples from both end-of-project reporting and annual reporting. Moreover, we will showcase examples of how to use Outcome Harvesting data in project indicators.
What will you do?
This will be an experience-sharing session based on a presentation from the Danish Institute for Human Rights and supplemented with experience from various practitioners. There will be plenty of time for questions and answers.
What will you take away?
Participants will leave with concrete ideas for using Outcome Harvesting data in narrative and indicator-based reporting. Including how to use data-based visuals (bar charts, pie charts) in reporting.
Presenters: Still being finalised
What is this session about?
This session aims to explore opportunities and challenges arising from different approaches to harvesting outcomes.
What will you do?
Hear three short descriptions of very different approaches to harvesting outcomes that set the frame for the session, and use the ideas these stimulate, as well as your own experience, to discuss opportunities or challenges in small groups on topics such as ‘enabling conditions’, ‘ensuring contributors’ ownership over outcomes’, ‘constructing significance statements’, ‘criteria for a successful harvest’.
What will you take away?
New ideas on how to strengthen the quality of your harvests in different evaluation contexts.
* This programme is indicative and may still evolve based on input from participants.
Programme Sessions & Clusters
The event opens with a plenary session on the foundations of Outcome Harvesting, followed by 2 main clusters of topics developed on the basis of input received from our community members. Each cluster contains several sessions built together with participants.
The development of this programme is being coordinated by a programme committee consisting of: Goele Scheers (OH Community Facilitator) | Carmen Wilson-Grau (OH Community Facilitator) | Conny Hoitink (OH Community Facilitator) | Patrick Sando (CIFOR-ICRAF) | Steff Deprez (Voices That Count) | Barbara Klugman (Barbara Klugman Concepts) | Maria Selde (Humanity United) | Julius Nyangaga (Right Track Africa) | Awuor Ponge (African Policy Centre).
As a utilisation-focused approach, OH values tailoring each harvest to the needs of its users and making each harvest unique. Rather than fixed rules, OH has a set of 9 principles that guide you in your application. This session will unpack the principles and we will share experiences on how these principles guide us in making design decisions.
From small NGOs to large international organisations, from peacebuilding to climate justice to governance reform, Outcome Harvesting is being applied in a diverse range of contexts worldwide. With that breadth comes a wealth of practical experience which participants will share in this cluster. It also brings shared challenges: questions about rigour, participation, sensemaking, and how to do this work with integrity in difficult conditions.
This cluster brings together sessions on the practical craft of Outcome Harvesting: the concrete choices, dilemmas, and techniques that practitioners navigate in their daily work. From harvesting approaches and maximising participation, to formulating complex or sensitive outcomes and substantiating them with credibility, these sessions dig into the how of doing OH well. We will also explore how to organise sense-making, how OH feeds into reporting, and what it means to apply OH through a feminist and power-aware lens. The Tool Market gives participants space to share and explore databases, analysis software, AI tools, guidelines and other practical resources.
Since its development, OH has been implemented both for monitoring as well as for evaluations in diverse and creative ways. Due to its added value in capturing unexpected changes, identifying smaller outcomes that can lead to significant impacts, and the ability to harvest directly from social actors, OH has been embedded in MEL systems by project or programme implementers. Its focus on behavioural change among social actors has proven useful when combined with other methods or approaches, such as causal pathways, contribution analysis, and systems change.
During this cluster, we will share experiences and discuss the challenges that have arisen when using OH for evaluations, as a monitoring tool, or in combination with other methods. For example, is there something like OH “light” (an application of OH that is less time-intensive), and can that be used at all? During the different uses of OH, have the OH principles always been followed? If not, is it OH, and does this matter? What are the core essentials of the method? If you were to link OH with other methods, what would you need to include so it remains OH?
We will discuss how participants have integrated OH into their MEL work. Participants will present specific challenges, and together we will address those important questions.