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
Back to blogging after a hiatus of three months during which I travelled too frequently for work assignments. Pressurised schedules do not support writing, but I am hoping to change this over the next month on the road from Beijing to Nairobi to Cape Town to Maastricht. There is much
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.
No, I don't equate evaluation with toilet paper made of gold - even if it costs a cool US$1.3 million. (I know, this is definitely fodder for jokes). But I want to use the image to make a serious point: that evaluation was neglected during the MDG
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
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
What? Evaluation is not popular? We know that evaluation can be very valuable. We continue to emphasise its role in "decision-making", "improving interventions", "accountability", "knowledge generation", "planning", "budgeting", "advocacy" - and for "learning" about
We need to get much better at "selling" evaluation (the "E" in "M&E"). This is important especially in the Global South, where evaluation may be particularly valuable in helping those with little hope for a better life. Perhaps this means that we
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.
