Demystifying Evaluation
Welcome! This blog is about the evaluation of development aid programs with a particular focus on its role in effecting positive change in an organization’s performance and/or in people’s lives. This blog offers the patient reader a much simpler perspective of evaluation - one where evaluation processes are filtered through a lens that strips it of some of its unnecessary complexities. My goal is to make evaluation accessible through the following: Keeping It Short and Simple (KISS): How often do we see projects struggling with activity monitoring and evaluation (M&E) let alone using M&E data during implementation? Too often, I reckon. Part of this struggle is the mistaken notion that M&E is a complex externally-imposed activity detached from the everyday management of a program. Indeed, project M&E (and evaluation in general) can be complex... but it does not have to be. This blog will try to demystify evaluation so that it is easily understandable to non-evaluators who work in or have a stake in international development. This is the key audience of this blog. I will use plain language in my postings which will also be short so you do not feel like you are reading an academic journal. I will gladly share references such as books and peer-reviewed journals where you can read, in more detail, about emerging issues in the exciting field of evaluation and the various approaches being used by evaluators to answer key evaluation questions. Making Evaluation Fun: Part of making evaluation accessible is to show you that evaluation can be fun by providing you examples from everyday life and injecting some attempt at humor in my entries. I am a geek and a big fan of comic books while growing up. Like most kids enamored with comics, I tried (perhaps with limited success) drawing my favorite cartoon characters. While I cannot promise a professionally drawn cartoon, I plan to use editorial cartooning to spur questions and dialogue on international development and evaluation issues. Being Non-Prescriptive: I do not presume to know everything and what I share will ultimately be shaped by my own unique context, my experience, and even my own biases. I believe learning is a personal journey so feel free to take only what you think is useful and relevant in your unique context. Having said that, a key aspect of learning is honest sharing and respectful dialogue. I welcome insights from your own personal journey! So please add a comment or send me a message and I'll try to respond immediately. It is my hope that the sharing of our thoughts and experiences can trigger key questions that allow us (yes, me included) to continuously check and question our values, our motivations, how we do evaluation, and essentially how we work in the international development sector. Through succeeding entries, I hope to shed light on how evaluation is integral in this internal process of reflection and change. Thanks in advance for accompanying me in this learning journey and please drop me a message sometime! Cheers, Royce
