How twisted narratives and simplistic measures can destroy a major effort to do good. This post examines what the backlash against ESG and ‘woke’ culture reveals about the dangers of poor measurement, ideological capture, and evaluation’s role in defending evidence-based progress
I re-post this post - originally published on Evaluating Sustainable Development Goals. "To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream; not only plan, but also believe." "It is well for the heart to be naïve and for the mind not to be."
This is an expanded version - especially in terms of key messages for evaluation professionals - of a post that I wrote as part of a series this week for US Labour Day. Do you know that every cup of coffee you drink in your favourite chain of coffee shops pushes a
A dispassionate observer of Planet Earth from far away could well be pleased with this global crisis faced by all of humanity. The suffering of those hardest hit, in particular those individuals and societies already vulnerable or fragile, makes it hard for us who are part of it to think
I have long thought that evaluators don't define 'success' in meaningful ways. Now highly respected economist Matt Andrews has just released a very useful working paper that confirms how much more carefully we need to think about this important concept. Most of our definitions and measurement
Our evaluation criteria are fundamental to the credibility and utility of our evaluations. Yet we have allowed one set of criteria - the DAC criteria - to dominate the focus of our evaluations. What they become, or whether we allow this dominance to continue, really matters now that they are under revision.
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
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
