aes18 International Evaluation Conference

Jess Dart (Clear Horizon), Anna Powell (Beacon Foundation), Ebeny Wood (Beacon Foundation), Jo Taylor (Paul Ramsay Foundation), Kitty te Riele (Peter Underwood Centre, University of Tasmania)

There is a gradual shift in realisation that intractable or wicked problems are going to require different types of solutions - and different ways of working together.  There has been considerable energy in setting up and establishing collaborative initiatives to disrupt and change systems. These initiatives don't fit the usual confines of a program or service. They often work across sectors, are emergent,  with long establishment phases.  With the challenge of how to work with this new kind of initiative comes the challenge of how we meaningfully evaluate in this space. It's a big topic, and in this panel we focus on evaluation in the establishment phase of a systems change initiative. 

Early ideas include looking to diagnose what is holding the system in a non-optimal state, to looking for key anchors that enable systems change such as adaptive leadership, collaborative health, and trusting relationships.

This panel session brings you four different perspectives on the topic of evaluating initiatives with systems change endeavours. The philanthropist funder, the backbone leader, the project director and the evaluators. Each present their challenges and their ideas for how to evaluate systems change projects on a real example of a 5 year project here in Tasmania in 5 schools.