During the past few decades there has been a remarkable growth in the evaluation profession as evidenced by the number of Voluntary Organizations for Professional Evaluation (VOPEs) that have formed. The number of national and regional VOPEs has risen from 15 in the 1990s to more than 155 by early 2013. The aggregate total of their memberships now surpasses 34,000.
Many of the national VOPEs began as loose, informal networks of individuals who discovered a common interest in learning about evaluation methodologies. Some subsequently evolved into more formal associations or societies, with constitutions and bylaws, and even official governmental recognition. The typical focus in this second phase is on institutional development and strengthening of the VOPE itself.
Some VOPEs have further evolved, recognizing the need not only to improve the supply of quality, credible, useful evaluations, but also to address the demand side – including advocating for governmental policies and systems that call for appropriate forms of evaluation that contribute to accountability, learning and public transparency.
The focus of this book is on a set of case studies written by leaders of selected VOPEs. These are ‘positive deviants’ – organizations that have especially relevant and useful experiences to share that could be helpful to other VOPEs as they seek ways to increase their capacities to strengthen not only the supply of evaluations but also influence the enabling environment for evaluation in their countries.
There are four sets of case studies included in this book. They include:
- Academic institutions that are offering courses in professional evaluation (the example of TESA – Teaching Evaluation in South Asia)
- Regional VOPEs (AfrEA, AES, CoE, EES, IPEN, ReLAC)
- 15 national VOPEs
The experiences of 4 VOPEs with specific focus on gender-responsive evaluation
In their preface, IOCE President and Vice President, Natalia Kosheleva and Murray Saunders, write about the role of the professional community of evaluators (VOPEs) to promote the growth of individual, institutional and national evaluation capacities.
In their “keynote” introductory chapter, Natalia Kosheleva and Marco Segone, Co-Chairs of the EvalPartners Initiative, provide a useful background to the formation and purpose of VOPEs. They also describe the role of the EvalPartners global collaborative partnership in enhancing the capacities of VOPEs in multiple ways.
In his article on the growth and evaluation capacities of VOPEs, Jim Rugh summarizes some of the findings of the mapping survey conducted during 2012.
As a sequel to the first book on the role of Civil Society in the development of national evaluation capacities, this book is one of the ways EvalPartners is contributing to the strengthening of VOPEs and they roles are playing in this vital movement towards development that benefits all members of society, especially those who too often get left behind.