Evaluation as profession and practice Archives

Guest post: Learning from Failure. Lessons for Evaluators and Organisations

November 16, 2019 Ahmed Aboubacrine 6

It is a pleasure to have Ahmed Aboubacrine as guest blogger on the interesting and pertinent issue of how to think about ‘failure’ from different perspectives. Our paths have crossed many times at evaluation conferences and I always appreciated both ... Read more »

Snippet: Ten tips to start shifting to systems-informed evaluation

November 13, 2019 Zenda Ofir 1

**3 min read** As one of three facilitators at a recent 3-day workshop organised in Connecticut by Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors (RPA) on ‘Assessing Systems Change’, I shared the following tips to inspire evaluation professionals to start integrating (complex) systems thinking ... Read more »

Ten essential competencies for “post-normal” evaluation

September 3, 2019 Zenda Ofir 0

**8 min read** “Are modernity’s blueprints for evaluation theory and practice exhausted?” Only now and again one finds provocative questions and insights during an evaluation conference keynote. A keynote that is Innovative. Thought-provoking. Visionary. In 2018, renowned evaluation scholar Thomas ... Read more »

Guest Post – The Efficiency Criterion. Can we make better use of it?

April 12, 2019 Michaela Raab & Jasmin Rocha 0

**6 min read** This guest post was written by Michaela Raab and Jasmin Rocha, both based in Berlin, Germany. The OECD/DAC criteria have been under review and debate since 2018. As Zenda Ofir explained in her widely discussed blog series, ... Read more »

Snippet: How data visualisation can mislead

January 9, 2019 Zenda Ofir 4

**2 min read** We live in an era of ‘big data’ and ‘big information’. We work in an increasingly quantified world devoid of the nuance that qualitative information provides. We also live in an era of ‘scanning’. We don’t want ... Read more »

Snippet: Evaluation shelfies

January 6, 2019 Zenda Ofir 0

A while ago Michael Quinn Patton urged us in one of our Young and Emerging Evaluator posts to share the 10 evaluation classics that inspire us most. And now we have the great phenomenon on Twitter – #SHELFIES! That special ... Read more »

Evaluation for Transformation 4. The one big mindset change we need in 2019.

January 3, 2019 Zenda Ofir 4

**5 min read** In its very essence, the concept of evaluation is beautiful, I argued long ago in one of my first blog posts. Evaluation is also in principle powerful, more so than scientific research. Just like science, it aims ... Read more »

Updating the DAC Criteria, Part 11 (FINAL). From Evaluation Criteria to Design Principles

October 13, 2018 Zenda Ofir 6

**10 min read** Evaluation criteria used in development contexts do not only show what evaluation commissioners, evaluators and other stakeholders value. They also provide an indication of the issues that could – and likely should – be a focus in ... Read more »