M&E Conferences

Organised by Latin-American and Caribbean Monitoring, Evaluation and Systematization Network (RELAC)

Conference website (in Spanish): https://conferenciarelac.wordpress.com/

Conference website
Call for abstracts
Contributions are invited on methods, practice and policy from civil society, government, academia and business, both in the UK and overseas. Abstracts for papers, symposiums, discussion panels and posters should cover:

The conference website
Conference theme: The World We Want

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Organizer: The Aotearoa New Zealand Evaluation Association

Theme: 'Navigating Evaluation: Making waves in Aotearoa and across the Pacific". http://www.anzea.org.nz/anzea-conferences/anzea-conference-2015/

Organizer: Swiss Evaluation Society (SEVAL) and Geneva Evaluation Network (GEN)

Conference website: http://conference2015.aes.asn.au/

Conference location: marvellous Melbourne :-)

Conference organizers: International Program Evaluation Network/IPEN, the National Academy for Public Administration under the President of Ukraine and the CCC Creative Center
Dates: September 23-25, 2015 (23.09 – Workshops, 24-25.09 – Conference)
Conference working languages: English, Russian
Deadline for applications June 10, 2015 (through 6 PM local time in Kyiv
Publication of the conference program and pre-conference workshops - June 1, 2015
Registration of conference participants will open on June 1, 2015
Conference and workshops site: Kyiv, Ukraine
Registration fee for conference participants (2 days)- TBD
Pre-conference workshop (1 day) - TBD
E-mail of the Conference Committee: conference@eval-net.org

here.

EES Secretariat

www.europeanevaluation.org

Co-hosted by DFID and organized co-jointly with the Fourth International Conference on National Evaluation Capacities)
Conference website here

Background
The International Development Evaluation Association (IDEAS), established in 2002, is the only global professional evaluation for individual members and the only association focused primarily on development evaluation. It has more than 750 members from more than 70 countries, with a majority of members living in the global South, possessing a great variety of backgrounds, from the private sector to philanthropy, from governments and international organizations to local communities, and from academia to action oriented grass-roots organizations. The mission of IDEAS is to “improve and extend the practice of development evaluation by refining knowledge, strengthening capacity, and expanding networks for development evaluation, particularly in developing and transition countries.”
The theme for the upcoming Global Assembly is “Evaluating Sustainable Development”. This theme recognizes the move towards integrating sustainability in development, as illustrated in the sustainable development goals which the UN will adopt as successors to the millennium development goals. The evaluation community as well as policy makers, politicians and stakeholders in the development world need to be ready for these goals and think through what changes they would bring to development policies and programs, to action for equity and gender, to public service and market based interventions, and to democratic governance and accountability. To make our societies and economies more sustainable means that we need to integrate environmental concerns and ecosystem services in our thinking, as we cannot survive in a world that has depleted resources and degraded ecosystems. A balance will need to be achieved between the social, economic and environmental domains. And this balance will need to be sustainable over time: the needs of current generations will need to be balanced with the needs of future generations. Evaluators will be asked to integrate these issues into evaluations of policies, programs and interventions.[read more…]

Organizer: IDEAS
Evaluation practitioners and policy-makers from around the world will gather at the Millennium Hilton Hotel in
Bangkok (Thailand) on October 26-30, 2015, to discuss and learn from each other about this year’s Conference Theme:

Background
The International Development Evaluation Association (IDEAS), established in 2002, is the only global professional evaluation for individual members and the only association focused primarily on development evaluation. It has more than 750 members from more than 70 countries, with a majority of members living in the global South, possessing a great variety of backgrounds, from the private sector to philanthropy, from governments and international organizations to local communities, and from academia to action oriented grass-roots organizations. The mission of IDEAS is to “improve and extend the practice of development evaluation by refining knowledge, strengthening capacity, and expanding networks for development evaluation, particularly in developing and transition countries.”
Further information may be found on the IDEAS website: www.IDEAS-global.org.A special conference website will be opened in the near future for registration and information purposes.
For further information contact:
IDEAS GA Administrator
Ms. Jean Hilburn
PostNet Suite #84, Private Bag X12, Cresta
Johannesburg 2118, South Africa
E-Mail: jeanhilburn@telkomsa.net
www.ideas-global.org

This two day conference brings together internationally recognised scholars from a wide range of disciplines to debate and advance realist methodologies and celebrate the innovative and ground-breaking work of emeritus Professor Ray Pawson.

Considerable innovation is happening in realist synthesis, evaluation, and mixed method research. There is compelling evidence of wide scale early adoption of realist methodologies across the human and social sciences. This conference, which is being held at The Leeds Club, brings together these innovators and adopters to advance realist methodologies.

Confirmed speakers include: Annette Boaz, Nick Emmel, Trish Greenhalgh, Joanne Greenhalgh, Justin Jagosh, Mike Kelly, Bruno Marchal, Ana Manzano, Mark Monaghan, Jane Nixon, Ray Pawson, Rebecca Randell, Jo Rycroft-Malone, Nick Tilley, Sara Van Belle, Rebecca Walwyn, Malcolm Williams, and Geoff Wong.

Key note sessions include: The zigzag of realist methodology; realist synthesis; multiple methods in realist research; policy, lessons from realist research; realist evaluation in international development; RCTs and realist evaluation.

Exemplary Evaluations in A Multicultural World: Learning from Evaluation's Successes Across the Globe: More than 30 Voluntary Organizations of Professional Evaluation (VOPEs), including the American Evaluation Association (AEA), EvalPartners, UN Agencies, and donor agencies have declared 2015 the International Year of Evaluation.

What this conference is about

This two-day conference focuses on how those active in monitoring and evaluation (M&E) can contribute better to partnerships in development. Key questions to be explored include:

1. What kinds of partnerships exist that could benefit from the support of M&E processes?
2. How can M&E strengthen these partnerships for sustainable development?
3. What is specific about the M&E within different kinds of partnerships, as compared to other implementation forms?

The conference will connect the realities of those working in practice with ideas from people who are thought leaders on the partnership topic. Workshops, clinics and presentations will ensure a lively and thoughtful opportunity to question one’s own practice and find inspiration for new ideas.

Contributions are being developed for the conference. Please also get in touch with ideas for specific contributions – papers, panels, roundtables or workshops are all welcome.  See 'call for proposals' under 'documents' on the right hand side.

Conference organisers

This conference is the eighth annual ‘M&E on the Cutting Edge’ event organised by the Centre for Development Innovation (CDI), Wageningen University and Research Centre, and Learning by Design, in collaboration with the PPPLab. Other organisations keen to collaborate with this conference can contact the organisers. Past events typically attract over 150 international participants.

Practical information

More information: cecile.kusters@wur.nl (content) or Lotte.vandenberg@wur.nl (logistics).

Location: Hof van Wageningen, Wageningen, the Netherlands

Conference fee (including lunch and drinks; excluding accommodation): €395

(no scholarships available)

More information and registration:http://www.wageningenur.nl/en/show/conference_partnering-for-success.htm

Conference website:  http://education.illinois.edu/CREA/conference

"Unquestionably, the continuing disproportionate inequities confronting traditionally disenfranchised communities in education, poverty, health care, and rates of incarceration must remain a primary focus of our collective effort as a global CREA community. It is also critically important that we substantively incorporate the unique assets of our culturally diverse communities in evaluations and assessments to address the inequities facing these communities. We are compelled and responsible for raising questions about what is being done to address the problems by aggressively developing, implementing and advocating approaches that contribute to solutions.

THEMES

? Broadening participation in STEM and beyond

? Capacity building in global and local communities and neighborhoods

? Development of equitable measures, methods and metrics

? Policies and practices of influence and consequence

? Examples of effective models of collaborations and networks

The 2016 CREA conference issues a call for papers that demonstrate the kinds of interventions in education, health care, criminal justice, and social services that are being undertaken to address inequities. What has been attempted? What are the results? What works for whom, why, and in what circumstances?

Proposals are invited that address one or more of the following:

1. Reports of interventions/programs—We invite papers that describe interventions/programs that addressed a particular type of inequity that also includes discussions of outcomes and impacts in education, poverty, health care, and in other social sectors.

2. Development of an evidence base— We invite papers that discuss new waves of thinking about evidence of effectiveness, program impact, and interventions that target people of color including indigenous communities. To determine whether interventions/programs are successfully addressing social, health and educational inequities, we need robust evidence base not simply for purposes of problem diagnosis but also to determine the effectiveness of remedies. .

3. Theory of change— We invite papers that explore the plausibility and testability of various theories of change that address inequities in specific, local circumstances, that is, theories of cause and effect that attribute change to intervention/program's strategies and action. The focus is on how theoretical and applied research (i.e. practitioners) explain individual, intergroup, and social/ systemic change occurs, specifically how, their actions will produce positive results.

4. Instrumentation—We invite papers that address the development of measures and indicators that contribute to improved understanding of teaching and learning processes, especially measures and indicators that capture changes resulting from interventions in the teaching and learning processes of
underrepresented individuals and populations. Likewise, we invite papers that address similar issues of instrumentation in health, psychological and cultural assessment.

The conference website http://www.profbriefings.co.uk/ukes2016

Call for abstracts

Contributions are invited on methods, practice and policy from civil society, government, academia and business, both in the UK and overseas. Structured abstracts for papers, symposiums, discussion panels and posters should cover:

Theme 1:         The culture of evaluation and vice versa - practical experience of either building such a culture or evaluating cultural issues, what worked, why it worked and the pitfalls.

Theme 2:         Unpacking complexity - how to analyse a situation and make it manageable, challenging assumptions, techniques for and experience of evaluating complex issues, learning from other disciplines.

Theme 3:         Evaluation as a discipline - how to identify evaluators from different professional sectors and backgrounds and build communities of practice between and among them. What makes evaluators different and what value do they add?

Theme 4:         Communication - spreading the word about evaluation, either to help develop a culture or to champion change as a result of evaluation findings. For example, through developing toolkits, exploiting the available technology, using social media, thinking out of the box.

The closing date for receipt of abstracts for formal presentations is 13 November 2015 and for poster presentations is 11 April 2016.

For further information contact london@profbriefings.co.uk

"At the 2016 conference we are asking for proposals that contribute to the following conference themes:

1. Social and Cultural Landscapes
2. Organisational, Political and Economic Landscapes
3. Natural and Built Landscapes
4. Evaluation Landscapes

Click here for more information on the conference themes.

The AES is pleased to announce that Victoria Hovane, and John Owen will be keynote speakersat aes16.

• Evaluation Ethics, Governance, and Professionalism
  • Ethical and Professional standards
  • Evaluation-specific capacity, skills and training
  • Evaluation Associations, policies and Politics
• Evaluation Systems, Organisations and Partnerships
  • Evaluation Systems in organisations and administrations
  • The organisational architecture of evaluations: networks and partnerships
  • Information Technology for Evaluation Teamwork

• Evaluation Methods and Research
  • New evaluation methods and criteria to mix / combine methods in evaluations
  • The role of academic disciplines in evaluation
  • Information Technology for data collection and analysis

• Evaluation Use, Communication and Outreach
  • Evaluation audiences and uses
  • Evaluations that make a difference
  • Information Technology for Evaluation Communication

Greetings from the Asia-Pacific Evaluation Association (APEA)

The APEA is pleased to announce its inaugural international evaluation conference to be held in Hanoi, Vietnam from 21-25 Nov., 2016. The APEA is the sole representative body for evaluation in the Asia-Pacific region with national member evaluation societies, associations, and networks from more than 11 countries. The theme of the 2016 Conference is: ‘SDGs – Making a Difference through Evaluation’

The conference over two days will bring together experts, government leaders and development partners to address international challenges in evaluation and the SDGs. The Conference will be followed by 2 days of post-conference workshops by leading experts in the evaluation field. Please find details about the APEA Evaluation Conference 2016 here: http://asiapacific-evaluation.org/apeaconf2016/

What this conference is about

This conference seeks to get clarity and learn about how to measure what matters, when we are aiming for SDGs yet we seem to live in a ‘post-truth’ society.

“Partnership and collaboration across every sector and at every level is vital if we are to meet the 2030 Global Goals for Sustainable Development. We need to find ways to measure progress in ways that have meaning to individuals from local to global, and across every sector. The range of organizations and stakeholders present and the range of initiatives being developed show how the Goals can be used to develop a shared framework.” – Jessica Fries, Executive Chairman, A4S. In: Measure What Matters: a Framework for Action. Post-Event Summary. 2016

How do we get to the core of what matters to be evaluated? And for who? How can we generate evidence that has meaning for society at large, not just the key players in society?

But how do we contribute to this as evaluators, program officers, policy makers, when facts seem to become less influential than emotions and personal beliefs? According to the Oxford Dictionaries ‘post-truth’ is defined as “relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief”. We can see what happened in the UK (Brexit) and USA (Trump). Evaluators are not the only ones that advocate for evidence-based decision making:  'An American government that ignores science to pursue ideological agendas endangers the world'(Common Dreams,25 January 2017; https://tinyurl.com/hvsqtum)

This conference is about measuring what matters in a post-truth society.

Speakers: Claire Hutchings, Head of Programme Quality, Oxfam GB (https://tinyurl.com/h94ysza) and

Wendy Asbeek,  Ministry of Foreign Affairs,  Director Policy and Operations Evaluation ( IOB)

For more information go to the conference web page: http://www.managingforimpact.org/event/conference-measuring-what-matters-%E2%80%98post-truth%E2%80%99-society

Facing Forward: Innovation, Action, and Reflection  http://c2017.evaluationcanada.ca/

The 2017 CES Conference will focus on innovation, action, and reflection. We will explore the latest methods and approaches evaluators are applying in a wide range of contexts and consider the ways in which evaluators are incorporating reflection into practice. This theme is meant to engage both internal and external evaluators in exploring the different ways in which they are thinking about their role and how they conduct evaluations. We will reflect on our work, explore ideas, share experiences and learn from one another about how to meet the new and emerging demands evaluators are facing in an era of social media, economic challenges, systems thinking, globalization and other emerging trends in our society.

Theme:  The use and usability of evaluation: Demonstrating and improving the usefulness of evaluation

Website: http://www.profbriefings.net/index.php/news/61-2017-annual-evaluation-conference

The theme of the 2017 Annual Evaluation Conference is Exploring the current uses of evaluation. Evaluation is a common term in the English language and means different things to different people. It is used in many different ways. We need to ensure that institutions and their staff who wish to “evaluate” their policies, programmes, projects and institutions know what that really means and what they will gain from the exercise. How, for example, does it differ from an audit, or monitoring, or a review? Is it the same as research? Can they use evaluation to measure impact, or success? Is it conducted before, during or after taking action, is it an external or internal exercise, who is involved, how are its conclusions communicated?

Emphases on different types of use of evaluation change over time. These have included focus on accountability, establishing impact, formative and developmental evaluation to improve implementation, and generation of evidence to learn about what works.

Organised by Visionary Analytics and Ministry of Finance

Details to be provided

Information on the previous evaluation conferences in Lithuania is provided here: http://esinvesticijos.lt/en/events/evaluationconference

"Digital data and new media and information technologies are changing monitoring, evaluation, research and learning (MERL). The past five years have seen technology-enabled MERL growing by leaps and bounds. From adaptive management and ‘developmental evaluation; to faster, higher quality data collection; to remote data gathering through sensors and self-reporting by mobile; to big data and social media analytics; to story-triggered methodologies —  the field is in constant flux with emerging methods, tools and approaches.

Alongside these new initiatives, we are seeing increasing documentation and assessment of technology-enabled MERL initiatives. Good practice guidelines are emerging and agency-level efforts are making new initiatives easier to start, build on and improve. The swarm of ethical questions related to these new methods and approaches has spurred greater attention to areas such as responsible data practice and the development of policies, guidelines and minimum ethical standards for digital data.

Championing the above is a growing and diversifying community of MERL practitioners, assembling from a variety of fields; hailing from a range of starting points; espousing different core frameworks and methodological approaches; and representing innovative field implementers, independent evaluators, and those at HQ that drive and promote institutional policy and practice"

For more information see http://merltech.org/

The Sri Lanka Evaluation Association (SLEvA) is a voluntary civil society organisation established in 1999, by an interested group of professionals from the government, private sector and non-governmental organisations. One of the flagship events conducted by SLEvA is the Biennial International Conference in Sri Lanka which attracts both local and foreign presentations and participation.

This year’s Conference theme is Actioning Evaluation - Key to Sustainable Development (SD).

For more information visit the conference website: https://slevaconference2015.wordpress.com/

SLEvA Secretariat
120/10, "Vidya Mandiraya"
Wijerama Mawatha, Colombo 07
Sri Lanka
Tel : +9411 2696235
E-mail: sleva.sec@gmail.com
Website: http://www.sleva.lk/

Purpose

Heightened community unrest sparked by the death of unarmed citizens; disproportionate inequities in education, poverty, health care, and rates of incarceration; and an intensely divisive U.S. presidential election require even more vigilant attention from our global CREA community. It is critically important that we focus on the generation, analysis, and usage of substantive evidence “that matters” in the evaluations and assessments we undertake. To address the issues our communities face, we are compelled and responsible to raise questions about what is being done to correct inequities and aggressively translate this evidence into action that has meaningful impact on our collective future.

Themes

Therefore the Evidence Matters: Culturally Responsive Evaluation and Assessment Translating to Action and Impact in Challenging Times will focus on the following areas:

Program evaluation, measurement and assessment as sources of evidence
Challenging the status quo regarding whose evidence matters
Cultural responsiveness as foundational to more equitable public policy
Moving from evidence generation to advocacy and action
Policies and practices of influence and consequence in the quest for social justice
Ethical challenges in complex areas of inquiry; whose justice is advanced?

Conference flyer 2017 CREA Conference Flier 

Conference website: http://crea.education.illinois.edu/home/crea-conference-2017

3ie London Evidence Week 2017 is a series of public events focused on the importance of using evidence to inform how we address some of the biggest challenges we are facing in development.

On 8 November, 3ie is organising a one-day conference at the George Fox Room, Friends House, Euston Road. The one-day conference, ‘Evidence that matters for vulnerable and marginalised people in international development’ will have interesting panels on promoting systematic review evidence in decision-making, reaching vulnerable and marginalised populations in WASH and agriculture sectors and presentations on various topics relating to promoting evidence-informed policymaking. This is a free event and will be of great interest to researchers, academics and students who are based in London. To register, please visit: http://bit.ly/LEW2017/

Professor Charlotte Watts, DFID chief scientific advisor, will deliver the annual Howard White Lecture to open the one-day conference. As a renowned researcher in HIV and gender-based violence, her lecture will be very well suited to our theme.

3ie is also pleased to be coordinating our London Evidence Week events with partners who also have events the same week. To know more about the events organised by the Campbell Collaboration, Humanitarian Evidence Week organised by Evidence Aid and the Festival of Social Sciences, please click here ( http://bit.ly/LEW2017 )

Theme: Evaluation + Design

Website: http://www.eval.org/p/cm/ld/fid=451

Everything we evaluate is designed. Every evaluation we conduct is designed. Every report, graph, or figure we present is designed. In our profession, design and evaluation are woven together to support the same purpose—making the world a better place. By considering both as parts of a whole, we can advance that purpose. 

This year, we will consider the integration of design and evaluation in three areas. 

Program Design: We call the intentional actions that organizations take to improve the social or natural world programs. Today,organizations of every kind are designing and implementing programs. They include:

• nonprofit organizations serving the most critical needs of communities with education, human services, and health programs;
• government agencies piloting innovative solutions to longstanding social problems;
• philanthropists supporting collaborative programs designed to create collective impact;
• corporations implementing social responsibility programs that promote social equity and environmental sustainability;
• and public-private initiatives, such as pay-for-success funding, social enterprises, and impact investing, that leverage private capital for social good.

Every program is designed, yet the field of evaluation has not developed a systematic approach to designing programs. Should we? Can we? What would it look like? What role should evaluators play? How can evaluation be built into a program from the start? Can we design for sustainability? What does it mean for a program to have an exemplary design?

Evaluation Design: An evaluation design integrates evaluation theories, approaches, and methods to achieve a set of intended purposes in a specific context. An evaluation design encompasses more than research design. It also includes:

• the use of evaluation as a direct means of creating change, for example by working with stakeholders in ways that promote equity and empower communities;
• strategies for understanding, working with, and building consensus among stakeholders;
• the thoughtful combination of quantitative and qualitative methods;
• the application of evaluation for formative, summative, and developmental purposes;
• and the development of evaluative criteria that establish what matters, to whom, and why.

Evaluation design is dynamic, changing as programs develop and real-world challenges emerge. Given this complexity, what constitutes an exemplary evaluation design? Does flexibility and responsiveness come at the expense of quality, credibility, or usefulness? Can we learn to design evaluations that are faster, cheaper, and better? How do we balance the competing interests of stakeholders?

Information Design: Evaluators must communicate to diverse audiences about the complexities of programs and their impacts. They strive to be accurate, compelling, and clear. At the same time, they are constrained by the time, attention, and training of audiences. To be successful, evaluators must develop strong information design skills, such as:

• data visualization techniques that transform mind-boggling complexity into clear, meaningful images;
• real-time data displays that help managers make decisions better and more quickly;
• storytelling that speaks to the part of our brains hardwired by evolution to learn from narrative;
• and multi-faceted communication strategies that leverage social psychology and social media to promote appropriate and timely use.

Information design plays a central role in evaluation. But what is good information design? How should it be taught and learned? Can we be persuasive and accurate at the same time? Have evaluation reports become obsolete? What roles can online and interactive technologies play?

In 2016, professiona

MERL Tech is a space for discussion, learning and sharing experiences and challenges with the use of technologies for Monitoring, Evaluation, Research and Learning (MERL) in the social impact and humanitarian and international development fields. At MERL Tech London, participants will have the chance to meet, learn from, debate with 200 of your MERL Tech peers and to see live demos of new tools and approaches to MERL.

More information here: http://merltech.org/merl-tech-london-2018/

Join our 10^th Annual M&E on the cutting edge conference with inspirational keynote speakers Noelle Aarts (Radboud University) and Irene de Goede (Oxfam Novib). This conference aims to seek clarity in the role that communication can play in generating and using evidence for sustainable development. How can evidence generated by research, monitoring and evaluation, dialogue, et cetera be better used to influence decision making and transformational change? What are other factors at play when influencing transformational change processes and how can we deal with this? What role can communication play in all of these processes? And what does this mean for you as a development professional?

Contribute and engage in interactive and reflective sessions, and workshops. You can submit ideas for a workshop relevant to the conference theme.

More information: https://tinyurl.com/ycy3gofx

All information here: http://www.profbriefings.co.uk/ukes2018/index.html

Call for abstracts now open, as of 15th December 2017, until 8th January

Conference website with all information here: https://www.ifad.org/evaluation/event/tags/y2018/49607919

The Independent Office of Evaluation of IFAD is organizing an international conference on “Evaluating Rural Inequality: Identifying effective approaches to reduce rural disparities”, which will explore critical questions regarding whether strategies and programmes that aim to eradicate rural poverty reduce disparities within rural areas.

The conference will examine approaches to rural poverty reduction that have had an impact on four main areas of inequality in rural areas:

• Resources. Rural poverty results from inequalities in groups’, households’ and individuals’ access to resources (such as income, land, inputs, capital, education and public transfer payments), their ability to use these resources, and their ownership of them.
• Resilience. The rural poor often lack the ability to cope with environmental degradation, climate change and economic shocks and risks.
• Relationships. Social relationships are a key determinant to an individual’s ability to access resources and cope with shocks. Unequal power relationships tend to underlie other inequalities, particularly for women, youth and indigenous peoples, and can perpetuate intergenerational poverty.
• Rights. Political rights and voice, ensured through the enactment and enforcement of laws and policies, are fundamental to truly eradicate rural poverty, particularly with regards to labour and land for marginalized groups, such as women, youth and indigenous peoples.

Proposals for presentations and workshops are now being accepted at: http://c2018.evaluationcanada.ca/proposal-submission/

See our conference website for more information

Registration and further information here

Public policies are about changing systems, but conventional approaches to their evaluation have largely ignored this insight. This conference brings together researchers and policymakers from a range of sectors and disciplines. It will explore the value of systems thinking for understanding policy problems, finding policy solutions and evaluating them - with a particular focus on the implications of systems thinking for policy evaluation. The event is aimed at both academic and non-academic participants, including research users and research commissioners.

The event has been organised by the Policy Innovation Research Unit at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, with support from the SRA. Confirmed speakers:

• What does it mean to have a systems perspective on policy development and evaluation? Diane Finegood, Simon Fraser University, Canada, whose research has ranged from basic clinical research on diabetes to health services research and population health research on obesity and chronic disease prevention. Her current research interests include public-private partnerships and systems thinking to address complex problems.
• The imperative and demands of a complex systems lens on evaluation. Zenda Ofir, South African scientist and independent evaluator, whose assignments in nearly 40 countries – primarily Africa and Asia – have been for government, international NGOs, universities, science councils and foundations. She has advised international organisations and the Rockefeller Foundation’s evaluation office on evaluation policy or strategy.
• Theory of change and systems change: what happens when two disciplines collide? Katie Boswell, Deputy Head of Funders within NPC’s research and consulting team. Katie has a particular interest in understanding and bringing about systems change. She co-authored NPC’s guide to high-impact campaigning, Shifting the dial and is currently working with Lankelly Chase Foundation on how theory of change can support systems change.
• Wicked problems, wicked solutions: evaluating system change. Matt Barnard, head of the communities, work and income team at NatCen Social Research. He has led complex research and evaluation projects in policy areas such as drug treatment, gambling, offender management and interventions to address child maltreatment.
• NHS England’s approach to evaluating complex system change: The New Care Models (NCM) Programme. Samantha Hinks, Operational Research and Evaluation Unit, Analytical Services, NHS England, is involved in evaluation of the New Care Models Programme in the English NHS which aims to generate whole system change.
• A complex systems approach to creating and evaluating the conditions for health in low income communities. Katrina Wyatt, Deputy Director for engaged research at the Wellcome Centre for Cultures and Environments of Health, and part of the Health Complexity Group in the University of Exeter Medical School. Her main research interests are in supporting healthful behaviours and reduce health inequalities, and evaluating complex system-based interventions.

All information here: http://www.ees2018.eu/

Important short-term dates:

• Call for Abstracts will open this week
• Conference registration opens early January 2018
• Pre-conference workshops can be proposed from end January 2018

Full information here: https://www.geis2018.org/

The Global Evidence and Implementation Summit 2018 (GEIS) will bring together experts from across the world to talk about their experiences in generating and implementing evidence for better policy and practice.

The summit will explore the evidence for designing, implementing and reviewing effective programs and policies. Expected to reach 700 delegates from 30 countries, GEIS 2018 will share the latest evidence synthesis and implementation science research and practice strategies for improving the lives of individuals, families and communities worldwide.

GEIS 2018 is for funding agencies, policy makers, practitioners, knowledge brokers, implementation scientists and researchers committed to the generation and implementation of evidence for better policy and practice. The summit will be attended by a broad range of sectors:

Child and social welfare
Education
Humanitarian aid
Crime and justice
International development
Environment and climate change
Early childhood
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities
Health and human services
Mental health services

Whether the origins of the phrase Speaking Truth to Power are an American Friends Service Committee’s 1955 pamphlet on nonviolence, a Quaker saying from the 18^th Century, writings by civil rights leader Bayard Rustin, a speech by ACLU president Patrick Malin, or even plays by Sophocles or Shakespeare, it has been used by social justice activists, clergy, academics, journalists, politicians, and evaluators to describe taking a stand, speaking out.

Join your evaluation colleagues in a lively, critical conversation about the role of evaluators and evaluation in Speaking Truth to Power.

As you think about how you might contribute to this important dialogue, consider these questions as catalysts for consideration about presentations, panels, posters, and even performances and other creative session formats for Evaluation 2018:

What responsibilities do we have as evaluators for Speaking Truth to Power? When? In what contexts or situations? With what consequences? At what risk or cost? To whom, with what expectations?

• What is power? Who has it, and how can they best be influenced? What is the power held by evaluators and evaluation?

• What is truth? Whose truth? How can we best discover these truths?

• And, what is speaking? Whispering? Public pronouncements? Influence? Activism? And by whom on behalf of whom?

We look forward to engaging you in this important conversation at Evaluation 2018 in Cleveland, October 28 – November 3!

Find out more information here: http://www.eval.org/eval18

The Evaluation Support Service is a Technical Assistance to the Directorate-General Development Cooperation of the European Commission, whose aim is to strengthen capacity in the evaluation field across the organization (including the EU Delegations in partner countries).

We are now organizing a cycle of lunch-break conferences on ‘Evaluation in hard-to-reach areas’ where evaluators and commissioners of evaluation from different horizons will present their experience in using methods such as use of geo-spatial data, surveys administered by non-specialised local enumerators, phone/tablet voice or data surveys, location tracking, communication through online platforms, etc.  The two last conferences will be respectively devoted to discussing conflict sensitivity in evaluating in fragile and conflict-affected states; and to the consequences on our traditional ethical rules of the use of these ‘innovative’ techniques.

The conferences can be followed via webstream; although they are mainly intended to an internal audience (managers of evaluation at the EC/DG DEVCO), all conferences are open to the public and the participation is free. The first of these conferences will take place on January the 4^th of February and the cycle will end in June this year.

The most updated version of the presentation paper of this cycle of conferences (which includes dates, presentation of the speakers, etc.) is available at https://web.tresorit.com/l#5ZZoMG3EfZ8MOThfLrDcPA

The Challenge:

Participation of stakeholders and citizens is increasingly recognized as a helpful and, in some circumstances, crucial ingredient when managing complex, adaptive socio-ecological systems. The scale, interconnectedness and ongoing dynamics of these systems require new approaches bringing together stakeholder knowledge and problem ownership with new complexity-appropriate tools. Such approaches have much to offer both ex-post evaluation and ex-ante policy appraisal.  However, methods for achieving effective participation are not well understood and often fail and participatory approaches for complex systems entail even greater challenges. Recently, there have been a range of interesting experiments and innovations involving aids to participation in complex adaptive systems ranging from immersive digital tools to “low tech” hands-on or experiential techniques.

CECAN Workshop:

We will be holding a workshop on 12-14 February, 2019, at the Barnett Hill Conference Centre, Surrey, UK, as a first step towards building an international community of those developing innovative, complexity-appropriate aids to participatory evaluation, to help people understand and steer their own complex systems and evaluate the effects of policies or other interventions.

Our focus will be on exploring and synthesising new approaches to collective understanding, experiencing and interacting with socio-ecological-technical systems in which numerous scales of dynamics and complexity are at play.  We will examine the value of such approaches and how they could be used in collaborative system design and co-management and policy evaluation and appraisal, in particular to allow ordinary people, rather than simply policy makers or experts, to understand, steer and evaluate change in their own complex social systems. This will be a highly interactive and focused small workshop in which we will share, generate and kick start ideas and collaborations and all attendees will be expected to participate fully.

Contributors Will Include:

Petra Ahrweiler, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Germany

Luis Enrique García Barrios, College of the South Frontier, Mexico

Nigel Gilbert, University of Surrey, UK

Mizuki Oka, University of Tsukuba

Alex Penn, University of Surrey, UK

Pascal Perez, SMART Infrastructure Facility, University of Wollongong, Australia

Alex Smajgl, Deakin University, Australia

Sha Xin Wei and Brandon Mechtley, Synthesis Center, Arizona State University, USA

How to Apply:

If you are interested in participating, please apply by 22 October 2018 by email tocecan@surrey.ac.uk attaching a statement outlining your background, expertise and what you could bring to the workshop (500 words maximum). We encourage creative and interactive proposals for sharing your ideas and approaches.

The workshop will be held at the Barnett Hill Hotel in the Surrey Hills, an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The hotel is within reach of London Gatwick Airport.  The registration fee of £550 includes all accommodation and meals at the Conference Centre from 11:00 on 12 February to 16:00 on 14 February.  Additional nights, before and after the workshop, can be booked at extra cost.

The workshop is being organised by the Centre for the Evaluation of Complexity Across the Nexus (CECAN) and is supported by the UK Economic and Social Research Council.

Administrative enquiries can be made to cecan@surrey.ac.uk, and enquiries about the programme to n.gilbert@surrey.ac.uk

The conference theme includes:

1. Results evaluation and SDGs: The potent power of partnership for peace, security, and sustainable development

2. Different milieus of interventions and results evaluation for peace, security, and sustainable development

3. Results evaluation in the private sector and emerging ventures - what's the real score?

4. Evaluation evidence and what's done to influence national policies and actions

5. The must to strengthen evaluation communities for advancing peace, security, and sustainable development

For more info please follow the conference website  http://apeaconference2019.com and follow the registration process below:

Intersectionality as Critical Inquiry, Method, and Practice: Beyond Categories and Dichotomies in Culturally Responsive Evaluation and Assessment

https://crea.education.illinois.edu/home/fifth-international-conference  

 Conference Focus Statement

Escalating domestic and global tensions in our social, political, and economic institutions require that we acknowledge the urgency as well as imperative to expand how we conceptualize our work, so that it does not continue the perpetuation of underrepresenting the issues facing People of Color. These issues should be apparent to most, passively acknowledged by some, and indignantly ignored by others. When we frame the issues and opportunities that define our work, understanding intersectionality is essential if we are to avoid inadvertently prioritizing the needs of some over the conditions of others.

Hosted by the College of Education, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

If you would like to be added to the CREA listserv for future conference announcements and other information, or have other questions please contact us at: crea@education.illinois.edu

Deadline for Submissions-September 15, 2018

Do you want to know how monitoring and evaluation can support the transition towards inclusive and sustainable food systems? Register now for our 2019 Monitoring & Evaluation on the cutting edge conference, and find out!

Understanding inclusive & sustainable food systems

In order to deliver on the 2030 SDG-Agenda, we need to improve on the performance of food systems. ‘Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals cannot happen without ending hunger and malnutrition and without having sustainable and resilient, climate-compatible agriculture and food systems that deliver for people and planet. (Source: UN Zero Hunger Challenge - ZHC).

Better understanding of and support for inclusive and sustainable food systems is needed for improved food systems. What effective role should monitoring and evaluation play in this? New evaluation approaches need to be developed to cope with the dynamic and complex nature of food systems, which feature multiple perspectives, multiple levels, multiple actors with multiple goals operating in multiple sectors.

Start Date: 2019-04-08 End Date: 2019-04-08

Register Now

A two-day interactive conference where you will walk out with increased skills and confidence, plus 'next-day' useable ideas and tools to evaluate systems change.

See the conference website: http://www.complexityandevaluation.com.au/

The theme of the 2019 UKES Annual Evaluation Conference is: Evaluation: A Diverse Field.

Further information on the conference can be found here: http://www.profbriefings.co.uk/ukes2019/

Download the conference flyer (PDF) here:
http://www.profbriefings.co.uk/ukes2019/UKES_Conference_2019_Flyer.pdf

The closing date for the submission of abstracts has been extended to 14 January 2019.  The abstract submission form can be found here: http://www.profbriefings.co.uk/ukes2019/ukes19abstracts.html

Dear colleagues,

Ee are pleased to invite you to this year's spring conference of the DeGEval-Woking Group "Methods in Evaluation" on Causality and Plausibility – Evaluation between Science and Practice. The conference will take place in Vienna on June 21st and 22nd and will be hosted by the Austrian Development Agency and the Department on Development Studies of the University of Vienna.

For further information please see: https://www.degeval.org/arbeitskreise/methoden-in-der-evaluation/aktuelles/view/action/spring-conference-2019-working-group-on-methods-causality-and-plausibility-evaluation-between-sc/

CALL FOR SYDNEY CONFERENCE PROPOSALS

We’re excited to invite you to submit a proposal for the conference and/or for a conference workshop.

With our future-focused theme of Evaluation un-boxed – we encourage you to share stories about opening up evaluation to end users, and drawing on the knowledge of communities and other disciplines to expand evaluation and ensure its ongoing relevance. Network and learn about what is happening in evaluation, and evaluation-related fields in Australia, New Zealand, the Australasian region, and across the world.

The conference will be held from Monday 16 September to Wednesday 18 September 2019 at the International Convention Centre Sydney. Conference workshops will be held on Sunday 15 September and Thursday 19 September.

Proposal submission deadlines

Conference workshop proposals: Monday 18 February 2019

Conference presentation proposals: Thursday 7 March 2019

Ignite presentations: Thursday 7 March 2019

Conference presenters will be notified of acceptance during May 2019.

Official website: https://2019.global-assembly.org/

All conference details can be found here: https://www.eval.org/page/evaluation-2019-theme

I invite you to address the following types of questions in our conference this year:

1. What frameworks, experiences, methods and practices best prepare us to address key issues of our time—massive migration (and the economic and social challenges that accompany it), climate change disasters, epidemic threats, and shifts in resources through economic globalization. In what way do our evaluations help our stakeholders understand the impact of these issues locally, in every evaluation we undertake?
2. How do we innovate and adapt our thinking, methods and practices to ensure our evaluations address the important societal challenges of today, and enable our communities to have informed and productive conversations?
3. How do we ensure our evaluation practices “leave no one behind,” as promised by 150 countries committed to the SDGs – i.e., how do we promote equity, diversity and the protection of human rights for all involved and affected by our evaluations?
4. How do we bring leadership competence to our evaluations? How do we prepare ourselves to be credible evaluators as we step into the controversial issues in our society or manage the anxiety our presence may stir? How do we stay independent and impartial, think calmly and creatively, act methodically and insightfully, consult all sides, include members of marginalized communities, and manage an evaluation that frames things systematically and provides credible answers to the most important questions?