The relational nature of Evaluation Capacity Building: Lessons from facilitated evaluation partnerships

Abstract

AbstractThis paper explores the nature and importance of the relationship between Evaluation Capacity Builders (ECBers) and their program partner(s) in the context of the Partnerships for Advancing Character program Evaluation (PACE) Project. PACE, a 3‐year initiative supported by the John Templeton Foundation, offered a unique opportunity to initiate, structure, support, and observe evaluation partnerships between an evaluation professional and a program team over 15 months. In this paper, after reviewing pertinent Evaluation Capacity Building (ECB) and adult education literature, we report on our qualitative inquiry into the PACE Evaluation Partnerships, in response to the following three research questions: (1) What did PACE participants consider to be positive characteristics of or contributing factors to the Evaluation Partnerships? (2) What did PACE participants identify as negative characteristics of or challenging factors to the partnerships? And (3) Are the patterns of positive/negative characteristics and contributing/challenging factors consistent with the hypothesis that relational qualities are important in Evaluation Capacity Building? The results of this analysis indicate that partnerships that were characterized by relational qualities (e.g., responsiveness, trust, mutual respect) tended to be more successful—in the eyes of the people in those relationships—than those that did not. Both the variety of the relationships described by the participants, as well as the emerging patterns, offer fertile ground for future questions about the relational nature of positive ECB relationships.