23/09/2024
♾️ EQUITY IS PRAXIS: from conceptualization to Practice
Looking forward to speaking this week at the European Evaluation Society (EES) Conference 2024. The Conference brings together donors, researchers and outstanding thinkers and changemakers from around the world experimenting with diverse approaches to co-produce knowledge for justice, equity and social change.
Generously invited by Ford Foundation, I will present lessons from Global Change Center + , and Global South partners’ action- research on equity-centered evaluation. I will present together with colleagues from Ford, UNDP, CLEAR Anglophone Africa University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa; and the Asia Pacific Evaluation Association.
Subarna N. Mathes, Senior Strategy and Evaluation Officer at the Ford Foundation, will moderate this discussion and contribute insights from Ford’s own efforts to embed equity in the commissioning, design, and implementation of evaluations.
I will present findings from a Southern-led landscape analysis funded by the Ford Foundation. The landscape analysis, which consulted over 100 evaluators, commissioners, and academics, examined the state of equity-oriented evaluation globally and identified practices employed by both commissioners of evaluations and practitioners who implement them. The analysis brought to light places where significant gaps remain in making progress toward equity. These include an overemphasis by commissioners on activities and outputs in their evaluation questions, a lack of outreach to more diverse evaluators or those based closer to communities (particularly evaluators in the Global South), and a lack of appreciation of context-specific methodologies.
The second panelist, Tina Tordjman-Nebe from UN Evaluation Group’s (United Nations Evaluation Group (UNEG), will bring the perspective of a multilateral evaluation commissioner. She will highlight a recent formative evaluation of the organization’s efforts to integrate “Leave No One Behind” principles across its programs and operations.
The third and fourth panelists will be two practitioners from the Global South advancing thinking and practice of equitable evaluation methodologies. Randika Lawson De Mel will share their experience trying to embed indigenous evaluation approaches across Southeast Asia, specifically focusing on a pilot project in Sri Lanka. Steven Masvaure will highlight his experience in taking steps to apply Made in Africa approaches, by integrating it into government policies, university curricula, and practitioners guides.
Together, we will unpack fundamental questions, share lessons and evidence; hoping to stimulate an open debate for action as we continue promoting equity-centered evaluations globally.
Full programme: https://ees-conference2024.com/programme/
Onwards! ✨️✨️ 🌎🌍🌏 Praxis Institute for Participatory Practices GENSA (Gender and Equity Network South Asia) North-South Initiative
