Assumptions,conjectures, and other miracles: The application of evaluative thinking to theory of change models in community development |
| |
| Institution: | 1. Virginia Tech, Agricultural, Leadership, & Community Education (0343), Litton-Reaves Hall, Rm. 284, 175 West Campus Drive, Blacksburg, VA 24061, United States;2. Catholic Relief Services, 228W. Lexington Street, Baltimore, MD 21201, United States;3. JCB Consulting, Evaluativethinkingcapacity.com, 68 Chesapeake Landing, West Henrietta, NY 14586, United States;1. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy, Division of Pharmaceutical Outcomes and Policy, Asheville, NC 28804, United States;2. Georgia Southern University, Jiann-Ping Hsu College of Public Health, Department of Community Health Behavior & Education, Statesboro, GA 30460, United States;3. University of South Florida, Department of Educational Measurement and Research, Tampa, FL 33620, United States;1. Payson Program for Global Development, Tulane University, 5208 Magazine St, #188, New Orleans, LA 70115, United States;2. African Women in Agricultural Research and Development (AWARD), Hosted by World Agroforestry Centre, United Nations Avenue, Gigiri, P.O. Box 30677-00100, Nairobi, Kenya;1. Dept. of Educational Leadership, Research and Technology, Western Michigan University, United States;2. W. K. Kellogg Foundation, United States |
| |
| Abstract: | Unexamined and unjustified assumptions are the Achilles’ heel of development programs. In this paper, we describe an evaluation capacity building (ECB) approach designed to help community development practitioners work more effectively with assumptions through the intentional infusion of evaluative thinking (ET) into the program planning, monitoring, and evaluation process. We focus specifically on one component of our ET promotion approach involving the creation and analysis of theory of change (ToC) models. We describe our recent efforts to pilot this ET ECB approach with Catholic Relief Services (CRS) in Ethiopia and Zambia. The use of ToC models, plus the addition of ET, is a way to encourage individual and organizational learning and adaptive management that supports more reflective and responsive programming. |
| |
| Keywords: | Assumptions Evaluative thinking Critical thinking Evaluation capacity building Theory of change Community development International development |
| 本文献已被 ScienceDirect 等数据库收录！ |
|
