Nashe Maalo: The "Value" of Intended-Outcomes Television in Macedonia

Nashe Maalo is a children's intended-outcomes television series that Search for Common Ground (SCG) produced in Macedonia for five seasons (1999-2004). It addresses cultural awareness, conflict prevention and conflict resolution skills for children 8-12 years old. SCG conducted research between each season to evaluate various parameters of the series' "success" in conveying its curriculum. Each post-season summative research was used as the formative data for the following year’s production. Now that the project has concluded, SCG is conducting an overall impact assessment of the series over the course of five years. What has already emerged in the preliminary stages of designing the research is that Nashe Maalo has elicited as many "unintended outcomes" as intended outcomes. Oftentimes, such unintended outcomes within fall within the realm of "soft" data that have been regarded as unquantifiable. Among its other objectives, this five-year research will investigate and will attempt to formulate a method to identify and systematise these "soft" data, which are being called elements of "value." By illuminating why a programme design works (or doesn't), rather than only how, SCG's research results aim to contribute to improved EE curriculum, production, and outreach design and implementation.

In this paper, Nashe Maalo is presented as a case study. The paper focuses on the programme's original concept, the changes it went through during its five years of production, the evaluation parameters that were used for the final assessment, and research results as they pertain to the notion of "value".