aes18 International Evaluation Conference

One of the exciting developments in evaluation is for evaluators to also be involved in the program design process. This session will explore how the dual evaluation / co-design role can work in practice, using program logic as a tool.
 This will be an interactive session, where we will build a program logic on the floor to show the process in action.  By building and challenging the program logic in a quick, collaborative manner, participants will experience how a project design can evolve rapidly to give it a better chance of achieving long-term outcomes. This is evaluation planning and program design, rolled together.
This session uses financial literacy programs as a case study, based on work we have done recently with a cluster of NGO projects where evaluative / design thinking has made a big leap forward. The effects have been fascinating to observe. Teams have embraced major changes to the project design. The funder has supported increased funding where the program logic showed it was necessary to get the desired outcomes. The process also helped plan a better evaluation, as the program logic revealed the points where evaluation focus was most critical.

We will also explore the environment that fosters the transformation into evaluation / co-design.  Key factors include early engagement, agile evaluators, funders demanding a program logic and encouraging innovation, and capacity building amongst program managers to foster evaluative thinking. 

The session will be of interest to evaluators who are keen to broaden their practice into co-design, and to active co-designers who wish to share insights.