For young and emerging evaluators there is plenty of advice about how to gain the necessary skills and knowledge, and how to get the right experience in evaluation. These technical aspects of evaluation are very important. A part of being an evaluation consultant, one that people rarely talk about, is
Unprecedented wildfires, deadly heatwaves, extraordinary floods, storms and droughts from California to Sweden, from Greece to Japan. The northern summer of 2018 has given us a preview of what the greenhouse world will look like, as countries and governments have become increasingly divided and inward looking, struggling to find solutions
Whatever methods and frameworks we use, we tend to rely on the scientific, the 'objective' data and evidence; we have been socialized to view it as the most reliable and honest evidence. We privilege this knowledge over other forms of knowledge, and so privilege the producers of scientific
While the five 'Top Ten Tips' in my previous post for Young and Emerging Evaluators (YEEs) related more to overall approaches to evaluation practice, the next five are intended to zoom in on a few technical matters that, as I advise people and organisations around the world, I
Given my 17-year long experience in evaluation, what are the top tips I would give to Young and Emerging Evaluators - the YEEs who will be responsible in future for the commissioning and doing of evaluations? We need change in our evaluation systems, so here are my first five priorities
Julia Coffman is one of our best-known evaluation leaders working primarily with foundations. I always think of her as innovative, energetic and a consummate professional. She gave me permission to highlight and link to her very timely and important Medium post here: Who are we really as 'evaluators&
In one of my recent posts I wrote about the pervasive influence of power on development, and the imperative to deal with it in our evaluations. Here I want to address the evaluation of "empowerment" - the support given to individuals in their efforts to empower themselves. In development
The Fourth Industrial Revolution? Klaus Schwab provides an intriguing analysis of the context within which the ambitions expressed in the 2030 Agenda and its SDGs have to be realised. He discusses the many potential benefits of the Fourth Industrial Revolution as well as the many real risks. He foresees very
Evaluation is entering an exciting period - one that will challenge us all to think in new ways and to focus on new things. This blog post is the first in a series aimed at highlighting some of the most interesting considerations for evaluation in an era where the Sustainable Development
Is evaluation beautiful? This post argues that evaluation as profession and practice is intrinsically beautiful — rooted in millennia, engaging our deepest capabilities. But how we practise it is often not. A meditation on evaluation’s true value proposition.
