The ACCUMI Approach. Impact Evaluation as Reflexive Practice: Lessons from a Community of Practice in Social Work

Conventional approaches to impact evaluation in social work often emphasize standardized outcomes and experimental designs, which risk neglecting the complex and relational nature of practice. This paper reports on a year-long action research project with a Community of Practice (CoP) of practitioners from five social work organizations and academic researchers. Through participatory activities – dialogue, collaborative mapping, and reflective exercises – the CoP generated practice-based insights into how impact can be understood and evaluated in different ways. Thematic analysis of the CoP’s work produced the ACCUMI approach, articulated in six guiding principles: Adapt and Adjust, Clarify and Claim, Cultivate Impact, Uncover and Understand, Map the Path, and Interweave Perspectives. Together, these principles reframe impact evaluation as a process of context-sensitive adaptation, transparent contribution, continuous learning, and inclusive dialogue with diverse stakeholders, including clients. The ACCUMI approach contributes a participatory and practice-informed model that aligns evaluation with the values, complexity, and organizational realities of social work. Build evaluation processes that actively use practitioner, client, and partner knowledge to inform decisions, rather than treating these perspectives as optional or secondary.Focus on demonstrating your organization’s contribution to change instead of claiming full attribution, especially when working in complex service systems with many actors.Embed impact evaluation into routine organizational practice by creating structures for regular reflection, learning, and adjustment across teams.Adapt evaluation methods to the realities of your service environment – its uncertainty, relational work, and shifting demands – instead of relying on one-size-fits-all tools.Use collaboratively developed program theories (e.g. Program Theory) as shared roadmaps to align stakeholders, clarify expectations, and guide evaluation activities. Build evaluation processes that actively use practitioner, client, and partner knowledge to inform decisions, rather than treating these perspectives as optional or secondary. Focus on demonstrating your organization’s contribution to change instead of claiming full attribution, especially when working in complex service systems with many actors. Embed impact evaluation into routine organizational practice by creating structures for regular reflection, learning, and adjustment across teams. Adapt evaluation methods to the realities of your service environment – its uncertainty, relational work, and shifting demands – instead of relying on one-size-fits-all tools. Use collaboratively developed program theories (e.g. Program Theory) as shared roadmaps to align stakeholders, clarify expectations, and guide evaluation activities.