"Evaluation revisited" workshop report published
12 April 2011
This report published in March 2011 summarizes the outputs of the Conference ‘Evaluation Revisited: Improving the Quality of Evaluative Practice by Embracing Complexity’’, which took place in Utrecht, the Netherlands, in May 2010. It also adds additional insights and observations related to the themes of the conference that have emerged at follow-up events.
The
conference was organized by three Dutch-based organizations: Wageningen UR Centre for Development
Innovation, Learning by Design and Context, international cooperation. Its main aim was to
contribute to clarity in the development sector about what constitutes robustness, i.e. core values
and quality standard, for evaluative practice in development that recognizes the complexity of
societal transformation.
The core questions addressed were:
1. What values and quality standards are needed within evaluative practice in order to
understand and influence such change processes?
2. What are the strengths and weaknesses of innovative examples of evaluative practice that
do justice to the complexity of change?
3. Where do trade-offs occur in quality standards and core values? What are the consequences
of these trade-offs for evaluation findings and for development?
4. What constitutes ‘robust evaluation’ for societal transformation, in terms of core values
and quality standards?
5. What needs to shift in development in order to make possible high quality, value-driven
evaluative practices that influence societal transformation?
At the conference website you can find more details on the themes covered at the conference as well as a broad selection of background readings and case studies.
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