Anyone working in the evaluation space can feel the shifts occurring beneath our feet. If we truly want to use our evaluative and impact measurement skills for positive impact, we need to step-up. So following the AES conference, here’s what I’m asking myself – and what I challenge you to consider in your daily work.
I had the pleasure to present at the Australian Evaluation Society conference at the start of this month and talk about one of my passions at Clear Horizon – solving common evaluation challenges with new technology solutions. Let me take you through how these new tools fit into our evaluation toolbox and what excites me about them.
Most of us working in the evaluation and impact space are here because we want to contribute to positive change. So, what happens when it turns out our interventions are having a different impact to what’s intended?
Has someone asked you to put together an impact summary that’s left you scrambling? Are you collecting evaluation data you suspect will never get looked at? Or maybe you’re just not sure where to best invest your limited resources. Any of this sound familiar? If so, some quality MEL training could help. Damien Sweeney and Bethany Hanson have put together the business case for investing in MEL skills – including why your manager should join you.
We’ve all been there. The dread of knowing you’re about to deliver unwelcome news – and that you’re at least partly responsible. The annoying inner voice that reminds you that you should have trusted your gut and raised your concerns earlier. Mistakes happen and create fertile ground for growth.
For Earth Day this year, we look at how visual dashboards are giving scientists and community conservationists a fighting chance to protect and restore one of the world’s living wonders – the Great Barrier Reef.
This year’s International Women’s Day campaign encourages us to break the bias and champion women that are forging paths in their field. What better way to break the biases than hearing from women making waves in data and design?
Sometimes it can be challenging being the only evaluation or impact measurement specialist in your organisation. You might enjoy a unique bird’s eye view across all of your organisation’s activities and impact. But you may also sit (virtually, these days) slightly apart from the teams knee-deep in design and implementation. And so when you run into a really sticky MEL issue – where do you go to for advice?
Thinking about a new career? You’re not alone according to research, which shows during COVID around a third of us have seriously considered alternate employment. And one thing that’s keeping people in their current roles? Feeling engaged with their work. We recently spoke to evaluation experts Zazie Tolmer and Dr Jess Dart to get their insights on what skills they started with, what they’ve needed to build, and what you should be considering for a career in the changing MEL landscape.
Before taking on a new role, our Chief Digital Officer Jenny Riley shares insights from her time building a new business area for Clear Horizon – evaluating digital interventions – learnings which have rapidly become all-too-applicable to anyone working in today’s evaluation and social impact space.
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