Meet the newest member of the NS GovLab team
By: Ns Govlab
Tags: New Staff, Introduction, Evaluation

Hi folks … I wanted to jump on here and just introduce (er … should I say, re-introduce myself) to the network and community. In November, 2020 I formally re-joined the NS GovLab team to take on the role of Data and Evaluation Lead.

Rayna Preston, Data and Evaluation Lead, NS GovLab

Now, to be clear, I’m no stranger to the Lab. I was involved in helping launch the first cohort of participants back in the Spring of 2018 and participated as a member of the first Co-Creation team. Here’s us a few year’s ago (oy!). I was bright eyed, new to the field of Social Innovation at that time and excited by the opportunity to approach problem solving in a new way. It’s hard to believe almost three years have passed since the first cohort of fellows made its way through NS GovLab. We learned so much about our aging population and what it might take to engage in social innovation within Government; and there is still so much for the Lab to learn.

A little about me; I use she/her pronouns and I am a mother to two young children (5 and 9 years old) who keep my hands, head and heart very full! I am a wife and a daughter living in rural Nova Scotia and recently, my partner and I have come into the season of our lives where we are starting to think about how we might care for our aging parents while simultaneously caring for our young children. And, while we recognize that we are very privileged to have the time, space and ability to think about and plan in advance for this shift in our family we also recognize this is not the case for so many folks out there. This is why I feel strongly that government has a critical role to play in helping support Nova Scotian’s to age in place, in supportive and connected communities.

Outside of the home, I work as an Evaluator; a career I have been at now for 12+ years. This means I help folks who develop programs, interventions and policies learn what works, for whom, and under what conditions. I also help organizations document their learnings, reflect on where they have been and tell stories about the impact they have had and changes they have contributed to. A critical part of a lab-based approach is using the evaluative learnings we generate together in real-time to inform what we do next. This approach is key to propelling emergent work like that of the Lab, forward.

I got my start as an Evaluator in the field of International Development working overseas, mainly in Asia and South-East Asia. Those experiences were eye-opening, formative, rich in culture and learning. They also cultivated a healthy amount of skepticism of traditional western practiced social science and in particular the perspective that there is one singular, methodological and objective way of knowing typically carried out by experts (read: there are right and wrong ways to know or understand the world around us). I’ve always been deeply interested in traditional knowledge, oral history, community knowledge, participatory action research and specifically the potential for transformation and change when communities take learning and knowing into their own hands.

I have worked across a number of sectors — starting out in International Education, and moving on to an early career in International Development where I worked in the areas of private sector development, entrepreneurship, mining and environmental protection. Since coming to Provincial Government, I have spent considerable time working in Public Health, Health Promotion and Mental Health and Addictions. I have a passion for population health approaches, for initiatives that seek to improve the upstream and material conditions in folk’s lives and for reducing disparities, inequities and injustice of all forms.

I can’t tell you all how excited I am to be here in this time of transformation to learn alongside everyone involved in this work. I’m pumped to be back in the Lab and collaborating with the Nova Scotia Network for Social Change and Inspiring Communities along with the countless partners out there working on challenges and solutions for our aging population. I look forward to helping surface and share some of the stories behind this work, what is happening, and what we are learning along the way. I am also passionate about helping folks build their capacity and practice in sense-making and reflection; so if you are looking for advice on how to get started in this space or just looking to chat with a fellow Evaluator about your practice, let’s chat.

You can connect with me here: Rayna Preston, rayna.preston@novascotia.ca

For more information about NS GovLab and the work we are doing to support aging populations or to collaborate or to explore partnerships please connect with us at nsgovlab@novascotia.ca