CLEAR-AA Partners with DEval to Host Workshop on Applying Evaluation Criteria

On September 20th, 2022, the Center for Learning on Evaluation and Results, CLEAR Anglophone Africa (CLEAR AA), and the German Institute for Development and Evaluation (DEval) hosted a workshop on applying evaluation criteria in Johannesburg, South Africa. The workshop was designed for a small group of emerging evaluators, juniors, and intermediate evaluation managers and practitioners from governments, NGOs, private sector and academic institutions.    

The aim of the workshop on evaluation criteria was to contribute towards improving evaluation practice in general, and evaluation quality in particular, across Anglophone Africa. The teaching methodology focused on the use of inquiry-based techniques to encourage thinking within the framework of an interactive and participatory approach.

The one-day workshop consisted of several sequenced sessions covering the genesis and evolution of evaluation criteria as well as critique and alternatives to dominant criteria. The sessions began with an introduction to the themes by facilitators, followed by participant interventions, group exercises, and plenaries for discussions.  

One of the lessons learned from hosting the workshop on evaluation criteria is that there is an appetite for workshops that cover some of the widely used frameworks in evaluation. The participants appreciated the contextualized lens used, which questioned the basis of dominant frameworks and provided a reflective lens that also offered various contextually appropriate alternatives.