Sam Buckton distils insights from his pioneering PhD research on transformation-focused evaluation. Based on a systematic review of the literature, he maps 12 principles that show how the evaluation field is advancing with the demands of transformative change in complex systems.
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.
We live in a liminal space, suspended between what was and what is becoming. Like a cocoon where the old dissolves before the new takes shape, this in-between space is where the transformations we need become possible. What does this mean for evaluation?
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.
Evaluation does not flow from a single source. Like a river fed by countless tributaries, it draws from government accountability, Indigenous wisdom, professional practice, academic research, digital innovation and activist movements.
From ancient aquifers to modern canals: how evaluation evolved from intuitive human practice into a structured profession. Tracing the currents that carried evaluative thinking from millennia-old traditions into the formalised field we know today.
As we chart evaluation’s future, its earliest beginnings continue to shape the field. From ancient Egypt’s Nile governance to China’s imperial examinations, from Indigenous knowledge systems to Athenian civic audits – a vivid journey through five millennia of evaluative practice.
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
Evaluation professionals increasingly work where evaluation and transformation meet – yet few truly navigate this space. This post introduces the evaluation-transformation nexus - evaluation OF, FOR, AS and In transformation - and its use when working on complex change.
