Fred Carden's Top YEE Tips: 'Whose knowledge' matters!

**4 min read**

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 knowledge over other producers of knowledge. But scientific knowledge comes with its own cultural, gendered, political and class assumptions, so we need to be cautious in how we understand its findings.

Professional knowledge is the knowledge held by bureaucrats, intermediaries (such as think tanks), and advocates. Professional knowledge synthesizes and consolidates ideas from a range of sources and, most importantly, connects them to context. It is the process knowledge that brings evidence and ideas to a community in ways it can be effectively used.

Local knowledge emerges from a society's experiences and practice. We learn local knowledge through experience and observation of others in our communities. It is the social capital that allows individuals to become citizens and form communities. Local knowledge is most often a co-production between communities and their environments. It is often tacitly held and passed on orally from generation to generation. Importantly, like other forms of knowledge, it evolves and changes over time.

We make the case in the book that policy influence is strengthened when local, professional and scientific knowledge work together. We can apply the same argument to evaluation. It is stronger when we recognize and respect all forms of knowledge as we examine a project, a policy, a program or a systemic problem (such as climate change or the SDGs). Bringing local and professional knowledge to the table gives us much stronger possibilities that the findings will resonate with communities and be implemented. Both professional and local knowledge rely heavily on context and operating environment, and we know from forty years of research on implementation, that context matters a great deal.

In their seminal work on implementation in 1980, Pressman and Wildavsky examine the failures of the Economic Development Administration in the US. In looking at why economic policies failed, a major conclusion was around context - policies defined in Washington could not take effective account of different contexts, in rural Wyoming, New York City, in Los Angeles, or in Mississippi. Without a mechanism to bring local context to bear, policies would continue to miss the mark.

Putting its best foot forward, evaluation is about implementation, about improving the human condition through a better understanding of what works, for whom and in what contexts. If we are going to achieve that, we need to respect and use multiple forms of knowledge to make the best possible contribution to change.