The 9th European Evaluation Society International Conference

Date: 6-8th October 2010 (Pre-Conference training 4-5th)
Venue: Prague

“Evaluation in the public interest: participation, politics and policy”

The 2010 EES conference in the beautiful city of Prague is an invitation to evaluators and stakeholders to consider how evaluation addresses core values of human rights and citizen participation, addressing issues in such a way that the public can benefit from its work.  It is a delicate balance to achieve this while contributing useful knowledge to public policy and its
implementation.

In a world of widening socio-economic inequalities in which individuals and cultures are increasingly confronted by financial, social, environmental and spiritual upheavals, does evaluation have a meaningful role to play as an advocate for the public good? This conference title is designed to stimulate forward and expansive thinking about the way in which evaluation is embedded in democratic process.  This perspective places evaluation within the dynamic of policy making, policy interrogation and legitimation where it mediates between policy makers, those in receipt of policies and those on whose behalf our policy makers are expected to work.

How can evaluation inform the public interest and challenge the dynamics of governance and policy implementation, from local through to central and global levels of governments? Evaluators are present in an astonishing array of sectors, policy areas, cross-cutting issues, governments, civil society organisations, research and education institutions, professional milieus and communities

Evaluation encompasses a rich and growing diversity of methodologies, practices, innovations and perspectives.  The European mosaic of evaluation reflects well that diversity and vibrancy and the 2010 Conference will provide the setting for exchange, learning and the advancement of
our practice.

As evaluators we have grown accustomed to asking what difference an intervention makes; it is now time to ask what difference evaluation makes.