This paper unpacks our efforts as external evaluators to work toward decolonizing our evaluation practice. Undertaking this writing exercise as a form of reflective practice demonstrated that decolonization is much more complex than simply translating materials, organizing locals to collect data, and building participants' capacity around Western…

Organizational evaluation policies describe how evaluation practices should be structured and implemented. As such, they provide key insights into organizational priorities and values regarding evaluation. However, the link between evaluation policies and how evaluation policies translate into concrete practices has seldom been explored until now.…

Evaluation has been expanding as an important discipline in Latin America, yet there are significant challenges regarding capacity development through educational and training initiatives in the region. This paper first analyzes the evolution and state of the field in terms of the teaching of, and training in evaluation in Latin America, with a…

The importance of considering wider contexts when evaluating the success or failure of programs has been increasingly acknowledged with the shift towards culturally responsive evaluation. But one of the important advantages of contextual approaches has been mostly overlooked--that they can provide more "realist" evaluations for why…

The merit of narrative film methods to support participatory approaches and professional development has been increasingly demonstrated by research in several fields and education. However, the use of digital storytelling and other film methods in evaluation remains largely unchartered territory. This article provides a case study of a digital…

This study analyzes evaluation influence theories to understand their unified contributions to a conceptual framework for research on evaluation influence in non-western contexts. Specifically, these theories are analyzed according to their usefulness for interpreting the consequences of the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER)--a cyclical,…

Actively engaging adolescents in meaningful program evaluation is a topic of growing interest. One possibility for such engagement is the use of photographs as part of visual evaluation, so that youth can directly engage with the research process. In this Method Note, we describe the development and implementation of a participatory, photo-based…

Deforestation is an environmental stressor that dramatically threatens biodiversity while having adverse, deep-rooted, socioeconomic impacts. Interventions to address deforestation require considerable long-term investments; therefore, assessing their impact is crucial. The UN Convention on Biological Diversity encourages establishing protected…

Advocacy evaluation has emerged in the past 20 years as a specialized area of evaluation practice. We offer a review of existing peer-reviewed literature and draw attention to the scarcity of scholarly work on human rights advocacy evaluation in the Global South. The lack of published material in this area is concerning, given the urgent need for…

Monitoring, evaluation, and research activities generate important data, but they often fail to change policies or programs. In addition, local program staff and partners often feel disconnected from these activities, which undermines their ownership of data and results. To bridge the gaps between monitoring, evaluation, and research and to give…

This article presents an approach to use complex adaptive systems thinking to construct a theory of change to plan and evaluate transformational interventions. The article draws on the concepts of domains, scales, agents, and emergence to build a model of the system targeted by the intervention, to identify the chains of causality driving the…

Transformative change is needed if the world is to achieve the sustainable development goals. Such change requires attention to culture, ethics, and values. We discuss the need to be responsive to the voices of Indigenous scholars in terms of the assumptions that guide methodological choices in the evaluation of international initiatives. We…

This method note presents Q methodology as a useful tool for evaluators to add to their practice toolbox. Q methodology, which involves both quantitative and qualitative techniques, can help researchers and evaluators systematically understand subjectivity and the communicability of opinions and perspectives. We first provide an overview of Q…

This study systematically reviewed evidence regarding health program and service evaluations in Indigenous contexts. Following the PRISMA guidelines and combining terms for 'Indigenous populations' and 'health programs and services'. Eight principles emerged: Principle 1: Adopting Indigenous led or co-led approaches is vital to balance power…

The applicability of Indigenous ethics to the evaluation of ecological restoration is explored through two case examples involving the Indigenous Sámi rivers of Näätämö and Ponoi in the European North. Six key restoration approaches are described that would have been overlooked had it not been for the use of Indigenous ethics from the start of the…