Tanja Stockmann, Oludotun Babayemi, Maurya West Meiers, Prof. Dr. Stewart I. Donaldson, Prof. Dr. Reinhard Stockmann (from left to right).
The Center for Evaluation (CEval) participated with a panel at the American Evaluation Association (AEA) Conference 2024, which took place from October 21 to 26 in Portland, Oregon. The theme of the conference was “Amplifying and Empowering Voices in Evaluation”. Under the direction of Prof. Dr. Reinhard Stockmann and the moderation of Tanja Stockmann, the results of the CEval research project, which began in 2016, were presented under the title “Driving and Hindering Forces of the Institutionalization of Evaluation in a Global Perspective”. This project, which examines the institutionalization of evaluation in more than 50 country case studies worldwide and ten case studies on transnational organizations and networks, provides valuable insights into the political, social and professional factors that influence the introduction, implementation and use of evaluation worldwide.
The panelists are authors of Globe publications:
- Dr. Stewart I. Donaldson, PhD, Distinguished University Professor and Executive Director of the Claremont Evaluation Center (CEC), former President of the American Evaluation, Association and author of the US chapter in the Americas volume. (The Institutionalisation of Evaluation in the Americas, edited by Reinhard Stockmann, Wolfgang Meyer, Laszlo Szentmarjay. Palgrave/Macmillan: 2022)
- Maurya West Meiers (M. A., M. Ed.), Senior Evaluation Officer at the World Bank Group and author of the chapter describing the World Bank’s contribution to the institutionalization of evaluation in the Americas.
- Oludotun Babayemi, founder of Cloneshouse, evaluation specialist and author of the Nigeria chapter in the Africa volume (not yet published).
Other panel participants from Asia and Latin America, who were supposed to represent the other continents of the Globe project, were unfortunately unable to attend. (The Institutionalisation of Evaluation in Asia-Pacific, edited by Reinhard Stockmann, Wolfgang Meyer, Niklas Zierke. Palgrave/Macmillan: 2023 and The Institutionalisation of Evaluation in Europe, edited by Reinhard Stockmann, Wolfgang Meyer and Lena Taube. Palgrave/Macmillan: 2020)
The presentations were followed by a lively discussion on how countries and regions can strengthen their evaluation systems, the obstacles that need to be overcome, and how they can learn from global examples. Overall, the CEval-Globe project was appreciated as a globally unique research project that has not only created an unprecedented scientific database but also delivers practical results that can be used for the development of institutional structures in a country’s political, social, and professional systems.
On the whole, the conference provided a good opportunity for professional discussions and networking. The intensive exchange on the future development of evaluation with one of the best-known evaluation experts, Dr. Michael Quinn Patton, was inspiring.
