Welcome to Evaluation for Development

I am a South African scientist and, since 2000, full-time international evaluation specialist. I work where development, knowledge and evaluation intersect. My commitment: I evaluate for the development of the Global South. In this blog I address issues of interest to all those who share this commitment. All countries develop, but it is in the Global South where it is most difficult and important to sustain a positive development trajectory. It is here where the vibrancy and resilience of societies and ecosystems are most inspirational, and where nature is both most awe-inspiring and most devastating. It is here where highly credible, innovative, useful evaluation can make the greatest difference.

Sustaining (development) impact.

October 25, 2016 Zenda Ofir 0

These days we talk a lot about “sustainable development”. And about “evaluating impact”. But I continue to maintain that it is useless to evaluate the impacts of an intervention without focusing on whether such impacts have a good chance to ... Read more »

Hot topics in E4D Development, Evaluation, Impact evaluation, SEIE, Sustainability, Sustaining impact

The Research Quality Plus (RQ+) Assessment Framework

October 3, 2016 Zenda Ofir 0

This blog post is about how to measure research quality when viewing research from a systems perspective. We all work with ‘evidence’. This is often based on research, either by ourselves or others. Research is also crucial for a knowledge ... Read more »

Evaluating research & its impact Research evaluation, Research excellence, Research quality, RQ+

This Idea Must Die!

September 17, 2016 Zenda Ofir 0

My last two blog posts addressed the issue of Grand Challenges in evaluation. A complementary idea: A type of ‘Grand Challenge’ for the profession (or perhaps rather, a smallish yet Important Challenge) is to make sure that outdated ideas die ... Read more »

The evaluation profession Evaluation, Grand Challenges, Innovation, Profession

Grand Challenges for Evaluation? Part 2

September 9, 2016 Zenda Ofir 0

In my previous post I highlighted the notion of Grand Challenges and where they have been developed. In this post I raise issues to consider when we think about whether the evaluation profession should have its own set of Grand ... Read more »

The evaluation profession Development, Evaluation, Grand Challenges

Grand Challenges for Evaluation? Part 1

September 6, 2016 Zenda Ofir 0

In July 2014 I wrote a short paper for EES Connections in which I asked whether the time was right for the global evaluation community to identify and engage with its own set of ‘Grand Challenges’. Everyone is developing them! ... Read more »

The evaluation profession Evaluation, Grand Challenges, Profession

Lives should have equal value

September 3, 2016 Zenda Ofir 0

Back to blogging after a hiatus of three months during which I travelled too frequently for work assignments. Pressurised schedules do not support writing, but I am hoping to change this over the next month on the road from Beijing ... Read more »

Hot topics in E4D Development, Evaluation

No, I am NOT a “development evaluator”. I evaluate FOR development.

May 20, 2016 Zenda Ofir 1

I do not do “development evaluation”. I do not practice the evaluation OF development. I evaluate FOR development. There is a difference. These days we are told that the need for the special category called “development evaluation” has receded because ... Read more »

Hot topics in E4D Development, Development evaluation, E4D, Evaluation, Evaluation for development, Global South, Profession

SDG Evaluation Call to Action 2: Consider macro influences on development

May 10, 2016 Zenda Ofir 0

In 15 years I have not conducted a single evaluation where I did not ask many questions about the reasons why things were working well, or not so well – and triangulating from different perspectives and sources of ... Read more »

Hot topics in E4D Blue marble, Context, Development, Evaluation, Fifth Wave, Global, SDGs, Technology, Trajectories