'22 let's push beyond counting, let's make it count

According to the OECD (2020) evaluation includes sustainability, impact, relevance efficiency, effectiveness and coherence. However, there are a lot of assumptions in this approach- and the devil is in the details- namely regarding the who, the what, and the why. In this blog I examine who does evaluation why they do evaluation and what they do it for; myself included. In this way I bring it to the personal/ professional level.

Who does eval? in the case of my 2020 trip to Doha Qatar with the Education Above All Foundation. I (a single mother) was tasked with the evaluation assignment. Why- why me- because I have the skills, experience and credentials to do so. But why at large do I do evaluation work- because I believe that making evaluative judgements about our work especially with marginalized children, youth and caregivers in countries like Rwanda, Ethiopia, Cote d’Ivoire, India and Cambodia will help us improve our service delivery.

What is it that we do? We ask questions and the questions get us the answers… and although we may not like all the answers- ultimately these findings push us all to do better work for children, youth and caregivers. On that note I personally thank my mom for supporting me by caregiving for my daughter while on a mystery adventure. The multigenerational apple does not fall far. 🍏🌎

“Let’s push it beyond counting” Let’s make it count! Photo: Maya and Megan