elizabethgrim

Long before we entered the pre-Covid/during-Covid realm, marked by daily monitoring of case counts, testing, hospitalizations, and death tolls, I had my own pre/during world. Like evaluation, this world includes constant monitoring, learning, and adjusting. This post shares five lessons from T1D that are relevant to evaluation.

This blog post has been a long time coming. I have struggled with voicing my thoughts for a couple of years. I am embarrassed that it took a national crisis and more murders of people of color like Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and George Floyd for me to lean into the fear and vulnerability to write. I am ashamed that I became afraid to use my voice publicly for justice and equity for fear of losing potential clients when people are losing their lives. I recognize that these fears, while real for me, are a privilege. This guilt, shame, and embarrassment are also privileges — white privilege. I have privilege simply because of the color of my skin, and I need to intentionally and consistently use that privilege to enact change.

[…] we watched the sunset over the mountains was dissipating. I realized then that 1) I did not want to camp alone in near/sub-freezing temperatures and 2) I still had time to get off the mountain in daylight. I […]

Each day I spend on the trail, walking, running, or hiking teaches me something about myself and the universe. One of the most important lessons I have learned is the art of flexibility. Understanding how to navigate dynamic systems is a key part of successful evaluation capacity building projects.

Evaluators wear many different hats, which vary depending on the evaluation approach as well as the stage of the evaluation cycle. Over the years, evaluation theorists have debated the role of the evaluator. Campbell classifies the role of evaluator as methodologist, Scriven says judge, Stake says facilitator, and Wholey says educator (Luo, 2010). Today, evaluators often straddle all of these roles in addition to new roles brought with advancing technology and globalization such as designer and marketer. Other hats include data analyst, project manager, grant writer, strategic planner, coordinator, educator/teacher, coach, and facilitator.