Performing Life
Evaluating Programs for Next Steps
Cochabamba, Bolivia
Non-governmental Organization, Youth Development
September 2010 - December 2010
Performing Life empowers street youth by teaching them performing and visual arts as productive skills to avoid drugs and delinquency. The organization was at a point in which they needed to decide which of their varied programs served the needs of youth most fully so that the organization could allocate limited resources to their growth. I partnered with Performing Life to understand all current program processes and outputs so that an informed decision could be made in terms of which programs needed more support and which programs should taper down.
Performing Life was started as a nonprofit organization in 2006 to encourage street youth in Cochabamba, Bolivia to seek alternative paths to drug use and school delinquency. The two main programs of Performing Life concentrate on teaching youth circus arts and music skills that can be re-purposed into income generating performances. The program also has an economic development focus for both youth and their mothers in which youth make and sell friendship bracelets, while the mothers build a variety of micro enterprises spanning from selling potatoes in the market to creating mini food carts. These diverse programs were stretching staff and resources thin, so Performing Life needed to understand which programs were the most developed, which were most impactful, and which had the greatest possibility for growth.
I was recruited to help the team understand their current programs better, identify gaps in the operating system and documentation process, and to propose recommendations for a more transparent and efficient organization that served the youth's’ needs. Over two months I conducted in-depth interviews with all key staff members, reviewed documents and computer systems, observed all programs in process, and conducted field visits to beneficiaries’ communities.
During the course of the second two-month period I was with Performing Life, I concentrated on consolidating documents and distilling learnings. For each of the three main youth programs (performance, music, and bracelet-making), I created detailed process maps, identified process hindrances, and articulated process needs. Additionally, I reviewed the process steps and needs of internal organizational operations for the following departments: volunteer management, accounting, human resources, fundraising, partnerships, and marketing. The final deliverable included specific recommendations to address each process need identified. The documentation and recommendations I created were used get a new General Director up to speed and on the right path to enhanced program design.
“[Cecilia] did a wonderful job and the document is exceptionally useful.” - Suzanne Jamison, PL Board Member
