Greet Peersman

While we’re happy to wish the year 2020 farewell, many of the challenges and difficulties that arose over the past 12 months are still with us, as is the sadness over the many different forms of loss we’ve all experienced.

In this first blog of 2019, Patricia Rogers, Greet Peersman and Alice Macfarlan examine how New Year's resolutions are similar to many evaluation practices.

In part 1 of this two-part blog series, greet Peersman and Patricia Rogers introduce the ‘Pathways to advance professionalisation within the context of the AES’ project and report.

In the previous blog in this series, greet Peersman and Patricia Rogers introduced the ‘Pathways to advance professionalisation within the context of the AES’ project and report.

We’re excited to announce the launch of the BetterEvaluation and IDRC (International Development Research Centre) Program Managers’ Guide to Evaluation and GeneraTOR.

Impact evaluation, like many areas of evaluation, is under-researched. Doing systematic research about evaluation takes considerable resources, and is often constrained by the availability of information about evaluation practice.  

In development, government and philanthropy, there is increasing recognition of the potential value of impact evaluation.

BetterEvaluation was privileged to sponsor the Methodological Innovation stream at the African Evaluation Association (AfREA) conference from 3-7 March. What did we learn?

“Gender affects everyone, all of the time.

This document provides an overview of the utility of and specific guidance and a tool for implementing an evaluability assessment before an impact evaluation is undertaken.

This guide, written by Greet Peersman for UNICEF, looks at the use of evaluative criteria in impact evaluation.

This tool from UNAIDS has been developed to support the implementation of an assessment of the national HIV monitoring and evaluation (M&E) system.

Stephen Few defines a dashboard as: "A data dashboard is a visual display of the most important information needed to achieve one or more objectives, with the data consolidated and arranged on a single screen so the informa

Self-assessment is an individual reflection on one's skills, knowledge and attitudes related to evaluation competencies.

Peer learning refers to a practitioner-to-practitioner approach in which the transfer of tacit knowledge is particularly important (Andrews and Manning 2016).

Expert advice provides advice in response to specific queries. It might include a process to clarify and reframe the question that is being asked.

An internship is a paid or unpaid entry-level position that provides work experience and some professional development.

Evaluation associations can leverage their membership to engage in knowledge construction through research and development.

An expectation that members of an association or organisation will engage in ongoing competency development.

Fellow is a category of membership of an association or society, often awarded to an individual based on their contributions to evaluation.

As part of its public advocacy role, a professional association can provide potential clients with information about engaging with evaluators effectively.

For evaluation to be truly useful it needs to engage in public discussions about relevant issues.

Peer assessment can provide additional benefits beyond self-assessment – in particular, the opportunity for peer learning through the review process.

Data mining is the systematic process of discovering patterns in data sets through the use of computer algorithms.

Dialogues refer to a range of learning conversations that go beyond knowledge transfer to include knowledge articulation and translation.

Viewing learning materials, such as previously recorded webinars, at your own pace.

Expert review involves an identified expert providing a review of draft documents at specified stages of a process and/or planned processes.

Learning partnerships involve structured processes over several years to support learning between a defined number of organisations working on similar programs, usually facilitated by a third party organisation.

A distinct occupational category or role title recognised at a national or organisational level.

An award is a formal recognition by peers of outstanding individuals or practice. Some awards are made for cumulative good practice, and others are for exemplars of good practice, such as awards for the best evaluation.

An important part of evaluation capacity strengthening is providing a clear definition or explanation of evaluation in online and printed materials.

For evaluation to be truly useful it needs to be embedded in organisational processes.

Associations from different but related sectors and fields can be good places to find useful events and training, network connections, and ideas.

An assessment of the extent to which an intervention can be evaluated in a reliable and credible fashion.

An impact evaluation provides information about the observed changes or 'impacts' produced by an intervention. These observed changes can be positive and negative, intended and unintended, direct and indirect.

Feminist evaluation (FE) emphasizes participatory, empowering, and social justice agendas.

Sustained and emerging impact evaluation (SEIE) evaluates the enduring results of an intervention some time after it has ended, or after a long period of implementation