My Evaluation is Over, Now What?

Government actors are increasingly investing in evaluating the effectiveness and impact of foreign assistance programming. Beyond compliance, evaluations can inform program design and decisions to end, expand, or replicate programming, yield recommendations to drive greater impact, and foster learning about what works in a given context. Planning for an evaluation with the end in mind helps sponsors, program managers, and evaluators work to achieve desired outcomes. A little foresight helps optimize the value of evaluations and makes the best use of stakeholders' time, attention, and budgets. So, how can we craft narratives and engage stakeholders in a way that gets buy-in and obtains greater return from conducting evaluations. Small tweaks and targeted strategies can go a long way.

Common Obstacles for Key Players in Evaluation

Program Managers & Evaluation Commissioners

• "I am so overwhelmed; where do I start?"
• "This is great, but does my team or leadership have time to read this?"

Internal & External

• "We worked so hard on these analyses; please use our ideas!"
• "Hmm... was I clear enough?"

Organizational Leadership

• "I invested in this evaluation; what did I get for it?"
• What did my team learn from this?

Our experienced evaluators tailor our approach to bolster the immediate and long-term value of evaluations. We consider the unique motivations, contexts, and common obstacles facing evaluators, program managers, organizational leadership, and other stakeholders, and we apply our expertise and lessons learned to our approach. Below, we examine three scenarios where valiant evaluation "heroes" have overcome obstacles to inspire action and inform decision-making.

Our approaches, methods, tools, and tactics aren't all guts and glory. Those with experience commonly learn from failure to hone their expertise. Parter with us to help your evaluations achieve more.