Sometimes in depth. Sometimes briefly.
Occasionally just something I could not resist.
Understanding today. Creating tomorrow. Living well between worlds.
My professional home is transformation and evaluation, and before that the management of academic and national science strategies and portfolios in my home country, South Africa.
As Global South and Global Citizen I am incurably curious about how the world actually works beneath dominant narratives, what the future might look like, and what is worth being and doing so that we can live well, and all life can thrive with us.
Here I share what catches my attention, challenges me, or simply seems worth thinking about.
The bigger picture. Here I look across daily life at the worldviews, narratives, events, assumptions and technologies that shape us, at the living and non-living systems that connect us all, and what all this means for our future: what is breaking down, what is emerging, new opportunities, and where there are grounds for hope and optimism that convention may ignore.
My specialist field. Development, transformation, foresight, and evaluation connected and reimagined for this turbulent era. Research and evaluative evidence in a world of misleading narratives supported by AI. Evaluation as essential practice for those who want to remake their systems, and who cannot afford to lie to themselves about how it is going.
Short reflections. Quick reads with a point. Something I read or heard, something I noticed, something that made me laugh or stopped me short. No argument to defend, no conclusion to reach; sometimes just the thing itself.
Building on Part 1, this post explores what lies beyond a single universal model of human rights. Drawing on diverse cultural traditions and philosophical systems, it makes the case for pluralistic approaches that honour different ways of understanding dignity and justice.
What if ‘universal human rights’ are not actually universal, but a cleverly packaged Western export that has sometimes done more harm than good? This post challenges conventional thinking and argues for embracing multiple frameworks to strengthen human dignity worldwide.
A beautiful Norwegian coastal town transforms into a giant open-air democracy festival. What Arendalsuka reveals about the power of inclusive, place-based democratic engagement – and what evaluation professionals can learn from it.
This post reflects on what it truly means to modernise development, and flourish on our own terms in the Global South – honouring heritage while embracing innovation, without imitating Western models.
Sam Buckton distils insights from his pioneering PhD research on transformation-focused evaluation. Based on a systematic review of the literature, he maps 12 principles that show how the evaluation field is advancing with the demands of transformative change in complex systems.
Three eminent transformation specialists – Sandra Waddock, Petra Kuenkel and Steve Waddell – present ten principles for transforming economics. A powerful argument for moving beyond extractive models towards regenerative economic systems that serve people and planet.
Why do we still tolerate the terminology of ‘Developed’ and ‘Developing’ countries? Words create images and dominant narratives that insidiously shape how we think. A brief reflection on how language reinforces power imbalances in global development.
Evaluation must become more than a technical practice – it can serve as a collective navigation system for this exceptional time in humanity’s history. Drawing on wayfinding, Indigenous wisdom and complexity thinking, this post reimagines evaluation’s purpose and potential.
Why are we still evaluating yesterday’s world to plan for tomorrow’s challenges? Evaluation after evaluation describes what happened in the past without grappling with what is emerging. This post argues for a fundamental reorientation of evaluation practice.
Selected frameworks, concepts and practical instruments that I have developed over the years, through my work on evaluation, transformation and systems change — sometimes on my own, and sometimes with others.
From time to time, I invite colleagues, friends and people whose thinking and work I value — including Young and Emerging Evaluators — to write here in their own words.
