Greetings Project IMPACT Evaluation Advisory Group - I apologize for the long lapse in any entries. No excuses! We've all been busy.

I've added some ideas about Evaluation Capacity Building. Let me know what you think. Embedding evaluation into the way we do business is essential if our organizations are to learn and grow.

Evaluation Capacity Building

ECB involves the design and implementation of teaching and learning strategies to help individuals, groups, and organizations, learn about what constitutes effective, useful, and professional evaluation practice.

The ultimate goal of ECB is sustainable evaluation practice—where members continuously ask questions that matter, collect, analyze, and interpret data, and use evaluation findings for decision-making and action.

For evaluation practice to be sustained, participants must be provided with leadership support, incentives, resources, and opportunities to transfer their learning about evaluation to their everyday work.

Sustainable evaluation practice also requires the development of systems, processes, policies, and plans that help embed evaluation work into the way the organization accomplishes its mission and strategic goals.

Strategies to promote learning about evaluation practice.

Individual, group, organizational learning about….

·      Evaluation design, implementation, management

·      Evaluative thinking

·      Evaluation as performance improvement strategy

·      Organizational learning culture

Capacity building approaches

Top-down: change organizational policies and practices.

Bottom-up: skill-building (continuous learning and improvement, ‘reflective practitioners’).

Partnerships: strengthening relationships between organizations (two-way flow of knowledge).

ECB goal

Sustainable evaluation practice

·      Continuously ask questions that matter

·      Collect, analyze, and interpret data

·      Use evaluation findings for decision-making and action

Sustainable evaluation practice

Supported by….

·      Leadership support

·      Incentives

·      Resources

·      Opportunities for learning transfer

·      Systems, processes, policies, and plans to embed evaluation work into organizational operations

Role of internal evaluator

Evaluation practitioner –ECB practitioner

·      Teacher (curriculum = evaluation process & findings)

·      Collaborative team member

·      Facilitator of evaluation champions

·      Evaluation infrastructure architect

·      Evaluation study guide

·      Evaluator-directed study in consultation with stakeholders

·      Evaluator as coach with stakeholders leading study

·      Collaboration between evaluator and stakeholders

Useful attributes of internal evaluator

·      Respectful communicator

·      Group facilitation & interpersonal skills

·      Open-minded

·      Trustworthy

·      Ensures all voices are heard

·      Has ability to manage project details

·      Identifies teachable moments

Think about how Project IMPACT might begin the process of building an internal network of evaluators and how the Evaluation Advisory Group might assist.