This is part one in a four-part series on program evaluation, dedicated to organizations and businesses that provide programs and services for women, girls, and communities of color (and for people with an interest in evaluation practice). Throughout this month, I will be discussing certain aspects of evaluation practice –from how I became interested in evaluation, myths about evaluation, knowing what type of evaluation to perform, and bringing your community together to support evaluation – with the intent on highlighting the importance of evaluation not just from a funding perspective, but from an accountability and empowerment perspective.

Outside of being a licensed social worker and an activist, what’s lesser known about me is that I’m a program evaluator. In fact, program design, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation are the focal point of my consulting business, and it’s what I studied primarily in my social work graduate program.

Admittedly, evaluation doesn’t sound as trendy compared to activism or even social work. It just sounds like a bunch of data collection and analysis, meetings with staff and stakeholders, presenting evaluation findings, and writing reports. Tedious and boring stuff that not many people pay attention to. (These are also key components of evaluation practice, and I’ll speak more about them in next week’s post.)

I’ve also noticed that when I talk about aspects of my work, I lightly touch on evaluation because most audiences I’ve spoken to have been more interested in the social work or activist side of me. So, to start off this series, I wanted to share with you how I got started in evaluation practice, what I enjoy most about it, how having a sound evaluation practice can lead to more funding and community support for your programs and services, and how it’s the glue that holds together my love for social work, activism, and working with women and girls of color. With this series, I’m giving program evaluation the spotlight it deserves. (more…)