Позитивные изменения. Том 2, № 2 (2022). Positive changes. Volume 2, Issue 2 (2022)

Along with the qualitative impact assessment protocol, there is also the "most significant change" method. This is a participatory qualitative method that, for example, has been used by the research team (Polet et al., 2015) to assess the social impact of affordable healthcare programs in the Philippines, Palestine, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and El Salvador. The method involves collecting personal stories of program participants, where they speak non-anonymously about their perception of the project and their role in it. This allows us to put the formal indicators in context by understanding the social significance and perceived meaning of the intervention.

Designing a study based on contribution analysis requires a focus on the change agent, with a description of the history of changes provided by the research subjects themselves.

THE MOST SIGNIFICANT CHANGES OF THE CLEAN GAMES

The results of the study of the Motives and Environmental Attitudes of the Clean Games Project Volunteers can be used to demonstrate the logic of the contribution analysis method. The report's authors highlight the following key motivations of the project organizers: game format, scale and fame of the project, and volunteering as a way of entertainment. Only a small part of the respondents said their goal was to develop environmental education in their region.

Additionally, a second look at the interviews reveals that most organizers are not aware of the motives of other organizers, noting that those motives could be different. The project’s social significance, in the opinion of the organizers, is limited to the actual garbage cleanup, without any focus on the cultural aspect. At the same time, when the topic of environmental education was mentioned, most respondents started talking about other projects, not about the Clean Games. The response closest to the intended result of the educational role of the Clean Games was formulated as follows:

"[This] could be called an aggressive enlightenment of sorts. That is to say, a person is taken out into the field, shown that there is too much human-caused garbage. Here, please clean it up — there's no shame in it."

This description of the educational task, however, leaves the following question: What values is a project participant expected to learn, besides the importance of garbage collection?

The project’s social significance, in the opinion of the organizers, is limited to the actual garbage cleanup, without any focus on the cultural aspect.

The organizers identify the following set of motives for joining the project: an interesting activity that benefits the society, receiving prizes/points, a desire for self-fulfillment, and a charismatic organizer. This information is meaningful on two levels. The lack of awareness of the importance of participating in environmental projects among the reasons for participation suggests a problem on the "demand side" — this motivation is excluded from the participants’ attitudes. However, this also describes the "supply side" situation — apparently, based on such attitudes, the organizers do not position the project as an opportunity for participants to be involved in the environmental agenda and do not themselves perceive this opportunity as the primary reason for participation.

In the organizers’ internal survey, when asked "What do you like about the Clean Games?" only 14 out of 93 respondents (15 %) indicated the project’s social significance. Some exemplary answers by a responsible eco-activist are presented below:

"The Clean Games teach children to treat nature with care and introduce the basics of separate garbage collection. Some people can no longer be educated. The Clean Games allow us to reach out to children and young people, make them love the place where they live. Still, I hope that those who have participated in the Clean Games will be more responsible for their behavior."