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| Photo From AEA Website |
Hi everyone!
We just came back from the annual American Evaluation Association (AEA) Conference
that was held in Denver, Colorado. And boy are we newly energized and filled
with inspiration! The theme this year was, “Visionary Evaluation for a
Sustainable, Equitable Future” accomplished through integrating systems
thinking, building relationships, and understanding sustainable and equitable
living. This theme really resonated with us, as so much of what we do requires
taking a systems approach to evaluation, building relationships for effective
data collection and participant buy-in, and ensuring the framework will be
sustainable and equitable to the often various parties involved.
We were fortunate
enough to present the great work some of our clients are doing and how we’ve
been able to build an evaluation framework to help support their efforts and enhance
evaluation capacity for sustainability during two roundtable sessions. During
the first session, we presented on Developing Comprehensive Evaluations of
Complex Programs: Prevention and Early
Intervention for Mental Health, and focused on providing the audience with challenges
experienced and lessons learned around developing a comprehensive large-scale
evaluation plan with multiple stakeholders. Much of this included strategies
for systems-level thinking, establishing a baseline of what is, how to elevate
data collection to ensure all necessary metrics are captured, and ways to
include key stakeholders in the process.
Similarly,
the second round table, Using Evaluation to Help Build and Sustain a HIV/AIDS
and Substance Abuse Prevention Program for High Risk Young Adults, provided
lessons learned around developing an evaluation framework to ensure the
necessary data are collected even amid challenging circumstances. Through the
development of the evaluation and the implementation of a data feedback loop
with key partners, relationships were able to be developed and fostered leading
to a more sustainable long-term evaluation.
Check out the
link to conference at: http://www.eval.org/p/cm/ld/fid=226
We always
find the AEA conference a great way to stay current on evaluation practices and
to catch up with colleagues and friends.
Did anyone
else attend the conference? What did you think and what insights did you gain
from the presentation(s) you attended?
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