Content Overview

Each unit is stand-alone, so depending on your familiarity with evaluation, you can pick and choose where to start. In most cases you will be able to complete a unit in 10 minutes.

Unit 1: Evaluation – Your Strategic Tool

  • An overview of how evaluation can help you be a more effective leader, evaluation versus research and other evidence-generating activities, and the necessity of evaluative thinking.

Unit 2: Evaluation Basics

  • An introduction (or refresher) on core evaluation concepts and terminology.

Unit 3: Equity

  • How leaders can ensure the evaluations they commission are equitable and key questions that leaders need to ask.

Unit 4: Credible Evidence

  • Reflections on what is considered credible evidence in the field of evaluation, balancing rigor with equity, and contribution vs. attribution.

Unit 5: Systems Thinking & Evaluation

  • How systems thinking can inform the value of evaluation.

Unit 6: Enhancing Use

  • How to fully maximize evaluation results including actionable evaluation questions, effective reports for leaders, and follow-up action plans.

Unit 7: Managing Evaluation

  • How to fully maximize the value from your internal and external evaluators, and how and where to find them.

Unit 8: Supporting Evaluation

  • How to build evaluation capacity in your organization, develop an evaluation policy, and fully maximize the use and benefit of your internal and external evaluators.