Free evaluation resources for developing countries.
Response 3.

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As always thanks for the many more comments. The key question is whether this should be some kind of training, or some kind of pool of evaluators who can provide assistance to specific projects. See below....


"developing a pool of evaluation folks ... What do others think - especially EVALTALKers with more international experience?"
(response) I'm open to either. I'd also be very interested in hearing what others think.

If we go with a pool of evaluators who can provide topical assistance, then a listserv or forum would be the easiest thing. Perhaps AEA can have another list, development evaluation? Or this forum  http://www.sociopranos.com/  can host a topic. They also mentioned that they can have closed forums (that only members can see).


"partnerships with local evaluation networks"
and
"efforts should come from below ... African Evaluation Association or Asian Evaluation Association"
(response) I absolutely agree. I can contact them unless someone knows folks. I can also ask them what type of project would be most helpful to them, training or consulting, or some combination.... or something totally different.


"going through International Organization for Cooperation in Evaluation"
(response) Absolutely agree to that too! Again, I can contact them unless someone knows folks.


"through AEA or another institution ... 2) through Web 2.0"
(response) Again, absolutely agree. I would be totally happy to have AEA or some institution do anything to help out with this project, manage it, house it, provide some resources, etc.
I'm not very happy with wiki because of quality control. Anyone can contribute or change or delete anything anyone else wrote. Unless there is a dedicated group of watchers, its too hard to make sure there is high quality.


Gene

--- Original messages -----
These are quotes from emails posted to evaltalk.

>Context is hugely important ... partnerships with local evaluation networks (who are often doing remarkable jobs at developing skills and capabilities) I think is important.

>I thought you were suggesting developing a pool of evaluation folks, with information on their background and capabilities (including languages), that project staff in developing countries could contact electronically for free to help them set up evaluation systems, or respond to specific evaluation needs.

>I'm not sure it would be feasible to set up electronic courses that would be applicable to all staff members in a wide diversity of types of projects - the diversity in evaluation types and points of view is likely to be overwhelming to those just starting in the field.

>My guess is that many project staff who are expected to do evaluation in many countries (as well as in the US) are not evaluators, and have no time or interest in becoming evaluators per se. They often just want to know how to develop and collect data needed for a specific project and purpose. Thus, I'm wondering whether a generic training program would seem relevant to them?

>What do others think - especially EVALTALKers with more international experience?

>efforts should come from below so that trainers would impart culturally and context specific training. Going through African Evaluation Association or Asian Evaluation Association would be a start.

>have you thought about taking your ideas over to the International Organization for Cooperation in Evaluation?
http://ioce. net/

>There are two possibilities to realise this idea: 1) through AEA or another institution with some hierarchial structure, 2) through Web 2.0 technology such as listservs, wikis, blogs, forums etc. where anyone can log in, participate, search and provide information.