Narrative review of strategies by organizations for building evaluation capacity. (October 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Norton, Sophie; Milat, Andrew; Edwards, Barry; Giffin, Michael
• Is Part Of: Evaluation and program planning. Volume 58(2016:Oct.)
• Page Start: 1
• Page End: 19
• Publication Date: 2016-10
• Subjects: Evaluation -- Program planning -- Program evaluation -- Capacity building -- Evidence-based practice; Health planning -- Periodicals; Medical care -- Evaluation -- Periodicals; 362.1068
• DOI: 10.1016/j.evalprogplan.2016.04.004
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0149-7189

Abstract

Highlights: Successful approaches to building evaluation capacity are multifaceted. Organizations need to value evaluation and promote evaluation training. Evaluation training with experiential learning is a key element of success. Taking knowledge to the workplace and applying it to practice is challenging. Abstract: Program evaluation is an important source of information to assist organizations to make "evidence-informed" decisions about program planning and development. The objectives of this study were to identify evaluated strategies used by organizations and program developers to build the program evaluation capacity of their workforce, and to describe success factors and lessons learned. Common elements for successful evaluation capacity building (ECB) include: a tailored strategy based on needs assessment, an organizational commitment to evaluation and ECB, experiential learning, training with a practical element, and some form of ongoing technical support within the workplace. ECB is a relatively new field of endeavor, and, while existing studies in ECB are characterized by lower levels of evidence, they suggest the most successful approaches to ECB are likely to be multifaceted. To build the level of evidence in this field, more rigorous study designs need to be implemented in the future.