We still have many opportunities to re-imagine evaluation and to combine this with the best evaluation knowledge we already have available. Indigenous evaluators in Latin America, as well as nearly all evaluators in Africa and Asia can still do much to consider what evaluation would have looked like "
It is in the West, primarily in the US, where systematic evaluation as we practice it today originated sometime in the early part of the last century. (Of course, we should remember that the Chinese were the first to develop systematic evaluative action for decision-making already during the Han
We need "Evaluation with African Characteristics" - in how we conceptualise evaluation and in how we lead and shape it in the interest of development on the continent. Instead of thinking about what this means, we tend to slavishly teach and use evaluation theory and practices imported from outside
What is Made in Africa Evaluation (MAE) - a term coined by the African Evaluation Association - or what some call Africa-centric Evaluation? It is simply evaluation that is (i) rooted in Africa and/or (ii) led by Africans for African contexts. There is a simple yet important notion behind this
What is 'Made in Africa' evaluation (MAE)? It is not what most people think. In order to move forward, it is time to come to some common understanding that can inspire and guide us into the future. Let us take it step by step. Special Stream Statement, Niamey
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
"Aid projects might yield satisfying micro-results, but they generally do little to change the systems that produce the problems in the first place." On 16 July 2018 fifteen prominent economists, including three Nobel winners, wrote in the Guardian that - my summary - the aid system is broken because
