FAQS

What does Tricycle do?

Founded in 2013 by seasoned evaluator and program developer Shefali Trivedi, Tricycle partners with organizations and their stakeholders to build capacity, improve implementation, and increase the impact of programs and interventions. We focus on strengthening organizations’ core work—their programs—in order to increase effectiveness, boost efficiency, and leave everyone inspired and engaged.
 

Who should work with Tricycle?

Tricycle works with organizations that:

•   have programs and interventions at all stages of development—initiating discovery, managing implementation, or ready to scale

•   strive to serve their constituents with the highest quality staff and strongest programs

•   see collaboration, transparency, accountability, and clear reporting as essential tools for providing quality service to their constituents

•   understand that - in order to provide top-quality service - they need to educate, train, and empower people at all levels of the organization

•   acknowledge that incremental but consistent efforts can generate strong results and produce exponential change in programs' effectiveness

•   believe that to meet and exceed their programs' potential, they need to ask the right questions; gather, analyze, and report on data that is meaningful to all stakeholders; and have mechanisms in place so that learning turns into action
 

Why should I work with Tricycle? 

We help you work smarter, increase the satisfaction of your staff, constituents, and funders and maximize your impact.

Measuring outcomes isn’t sufficient for organizations who truly want to understand their programs and interventions. To get a clear and accurate picture of whether the program is “working”—and to set the stage for the strongest results—they need to examine: the quality and fidelity with which programs are implemented, whether constituents’ and other stakeholders' needs are being met, and what they are doing to ensure staff have the necessary training and support to do their jobs well.

Too often, under pressure to rapidly deploy programs and report positive impact, organizations aren’t encouraged to develop thoughtful implementation strategies and systems or to thoroughly examine how interventions take place in the field. As a result, what is happening on the ground often bears little resemblance to the program’s stated theory of action and goals. Not only does this reduce effectiveness, it also leads to staff confusion, constituent dissatisfaction, and an overarching feeling among all stakeholders that the program isn’t meeting expectations.

To avoid these pitfalls, organizations need to establish cultures of evidence-based implementation, where the focus of data collection and analysis is on day-to-day functioning of programs in the field. 

Organizations should have the capacity to:

1.   regularly and systematically look at their programs and how they function on the ground

2.   examine what’s working as intended and what isn't - and understand why

3.   take steps to build on what's working and improve what's not
 

This ongoing approach can seem daunting without qualified support. Tricycle takes pride in making the process easy—and even enjoyable!

We specialize in helping organizations address program implementation issues:

·      aligning what’s happening on the ground with program goals (making sure actions align with intentions)

·      ensuring staff have the tools, information, and training to properly execute interventions

·      using data to make thoughtful decisions about program development, improvements, adaptation and scaling

·      developing assessments that document the work and establish a strong foundation for future evaluations. 

The focus of our work with you is to effect change that reaches beyond the present, having a continual impact for years to come.
 

What size projects does Tricycle tackle?

As a small organization, Tricycle is nimble and able to help with a broad range of projects, from creating a set of implementation and outcome reports to training staff to developing, deploying, and assessing a complex program. Through needs assessment and action planning, we’re able to customize solutions to meet each client’s needs, big or small.  
 

What are the benefits of working with Tricycle? 

We provide fine-grained, on-the-ground, embedded support that’s cost-effective, flexible, and based in deep, practical experience. One size doesn’t fit all, and we won’t propose solutions until we have a clear sense of your organization and your specific needs.

Our hands-on approach involves developing a true partnership with your organization, listening to all the stakeholders, and diving in and helping with the hard work. Our goal is to leave everyone we work with feeling empowered and ready to tackle their work in new, more effective ways.

Partnering with Tricycle allows organizations to:

·      build their staffs’ and volunteers’ capacity to implement and understand interventions

·      boost the buy-in, inspiration, and satisfaction of staff and constituents

·      create efficient and effective cycles of learning and program improvement

·      improve fidelity and quality of program implementation

And for stakeholders, we provide greater return on investment through:

·      higher quality data and reporting

·      increased organizational and programmatic capacity

·      greater understanding of how programs operate on the ground, as well as where strengths and challenges lie

·      programs and interventions that directly address constituent needs