How GEI’s Competency Framework Supports M&E Professionals

Douglas Glandon, Lead Technical Advisor at GEI, is one of the co-creators of the GEI Evaluation Competency Framework.

As an evaluator, you’re expected to be a data specialist, a diplomat, a project manager, and a cultural navigator—all at once. Balancing everything from data analysis to community engagement can feel like juggling multiple balls in the air. 

Recognizing this challenge, the Global Evaluation Initiative (GEI) created a new competency framework to simplify and support the evaluator's role. Designed for real-world application, GEI's approach distills insights from a wide range of existing frameworks into a streamlined, user-friendly model adaptable to a broad set of contexts.
 

Why competencies matter in evaluation
 

An evaluation competency framework clarifies the knowledge, skills, and behaviors evaluation professionals need. GEI’s framework provides a roadmap for six key roles: evaluators, team leaders, managers, commissioners, experts, and users. It defines clear domains—from technical rigor to stakeholder engagement—that support effective, ethical, and inclusive evaluation. 

Importantly, the framework also promotes consistency across the monitoring and evaluation (M&E) ecosystem. When stakeholders who commission evaluations use these competencies to develop terms of reference and selection criteria, they help set clearer expectations about what good evaluation practice entails. For example, when commissioners reference contextual competencies where local knowledge is vital, it leads to better-scoped evaluations, fewer misunderstandings, and more actionable findings. 
 

A closer look at GEI’s framework 
 

Unlike traditional one-size-fits-all models, GEI’s framework is designed to be flexible and practical. It draws on seven existing evaluation frameworks from the American Evaluation Association, Asia-Pacific Evaluation Association, Canadian Evaluation Society, South African M&E Association, Department of Performance M&E of the Presidency of the Republic of South Africa, United Nations Evaluation Group, and the International Development Association, identifying common domains and core competency areas through an inductive mapping process. The result is a concise framework applicable to a variety of evaluation settings, from summative to formative, and independent to embedded.   

GEI organizes competencies into five core domains: 

• Professional: Upholding ethics, promoting evaluation for better policy, and advancing the field. 
• Technical: Applying research skills and subject expertise to design, implement, and analyze evaluations. 
• Managerial: Scoping, planning, implementing, and completing evaluations effectively.  
• Interpersonal: Navigating relationships with team members and stakeholders. 
• Contextual: Understanding and adapting to cultural, institutional, and political contexts. 

Each domain includes between three and five competency areas. Rather than prescribing exact skills, GEI encourages organizations to define specific competencies based on their unique context. 
 

Real-world uses and benefits 
 

1. Professional Growth 
 

Evaluation professionals can use the framework to pinpoint areas of strength and those needing development. If quantitative skills come easily but engaging stakeholders feels challenging, the framework can guide you toward strengthening your communication and relationship-building abilities.
 

2. Organizational Alignment
 

The framework helps agencies and decision-makers align hiring, training, and performance evaluation with clearly defined competency domains. Within GEI, having a clear set of evaluation competencies allows us to design and structure instructional content in a way that directly addresses individual needs—ultimately strengthening evaluation practice so that it is both technically sound and responsive to different organizational and cultural settings.
 

3. Strengthening Evaluation Systems 
 

The framework also supports systemic improvements. GEI understands that robust M&E hinges on the interconnectedness of policies, institutional mandates, and stakeholder engagement. Using the framework alongside tools such as GEI's Monitoring and Evaluation Systems Analysis (MESA) helps identify systemic gaps and align capacity with demand. The result? Better alignment between the demand for quality evaluative evidence and the capacity to supply it—leading to more coherent, evidence-informed decision-making.
 

Lessons from practice 
 

In our work, we’ve seen how often technical excellence is prioritized over contextual understanding. GEI’s framework challenges that mindset, positioning both as essential and mutually reinforcing. In places where local voices are often underrepresented, competencies in stakeholder engagement and ethics are just as critical as knowing which statistical test to run. 

We’ve also found that a flexible framework builds buy-in. When partners realize they can adapt competencies to local needs, they become more invested in the evaluation process. That sense of ownership makes findings more likely to inform policies and programs, increasing the impact of evaluations. 

Please join us! Have you used evaluation competency frameworks? What lessons have you learned? Comment on this blog post or reach out to us on LinkedIn or Twitter (X) and subscribe to GEI’s newsletter. 

If you would like to contribute to this blog, we would be happy to work with you—please contact us at contactgei@globalevaluationinitiative.org.