Evaluation must become more than a technical practice – it can serve as a collective navigation system for this exceptional time in humanity’s history. Drawing on wayfinding, Indigenous wisdom and complexity thinking, this post reimagines evaluation’s purpose and potential.
Why are we still evaluating yesterday’s world to plan for tomorrow’s challenges? Evaluation after evaluation describes what happened in the past without grappling with what is emerging. This post argues for a fundamental reorientation of evaluation practice.
Part of a series of thought morsels. This one is fun but also sobering – a look at the colourful menagerie of animal metaphors we use for the risks shaping our future, from black swans to grey rhinos to dragon kings.
Evaluation has never been neutral. Throughout history, the act of assessing has served as both instrument of control and catalyst for justice. This post examines how power, politics and ideology have always shaped what gets evaluated, by whom, and for what purpose.
We need Mission Thinking, Moonshot Thinking, and Mission-Oriented Evaluation if we are to ensure evaluation is fit for purpose for this era. The thought occurred to me as I was reading the latest book by visionary and outspoken UK economist Mariana Mazzucato, who is on a mission to establish
In its very essence, the concept of evaluation is beautiful, I argued long ago in one of my first blog posts. Evaluation is also in principle powerful, more so than scientific research. Just like science, it aims to produce evidence and useful insights that can improve aspects of the world
As the powerful gather in Davos this week, it is a good time to reflect on the WEF's excellent Global Risks Report 2018. The report reminds us that as evaluators we have to engage with the larger context within which we attempt to contribute to the wellbeing of
In my previous post I highlighted the notion of Grand Challenges and where they have been developed. In this post I raise issues to consider when we think about whether the evaluation profession should have its own set of Grand Challenges. Should we have Grand Challenges for Evaluation? The practice
In July 2014 I wrote a short paper for EES Connections in which I asked whether the time was right for the global evaluation community to identify and engage with its own set of 'Grand Challenges'. Everyone is developing them! Why should evaluation - this young profession with all
In 15 years I have not conducted a single evaluation where I did not ask many questions about the reasons why things were working well, or not so well – and triangulating from different perspectives and sources of information.
