This full-day workshop will be split into two 3-hour sessions over two different days.

Tuesday 18th & Thursday 20th August

Every evaluation has to address three big issues.  Its focus (what should it assess), it’s scope (what else does it need to consider) and what are the key criteria (how should it assess the worth of the intervention or program). Terms of reference often claim to contain the answer, but on close inspection get frustratingly vague.  How many times have you gone back to an evaluation commissioner and asked what actually is the intervention, where does it begin and end, and what exactly do you mean by ‘effective’ or ‘achievement'?  These issues also lie at the heart of systemic practice, and the way that the field address these questions can be usefully applied to evaluation.

For a couple of decades Bob Williams has been experimenting and exploring ways in which the systems field can assist the evaluation field address these conundrums.   This webinar-based workshop will give you an opportunity to try three of them out for yourself under his guidance. You will work on a given case, and reflect on application to your own evaluation practice. You will work on your own, in small groups and there will be some homework between the two sessions.  

By the end of this webinar you will able to address the issues of evaluation scope, focus and criteria in a systemic way.   You will also have access to a free copy of Bob’s on-line workbook, Systemic Evaluation Design.

This is not a webinar on ’systems thinking’; but on the way you will also learn a bit about what ’systemic practice’ is and how it relates to evaluation.

Because of the focus on key aspects of evaluation design and specification, it will be relevant to both evaluation commissioners and evaluation practitioners alike.