Monthly Corner
Laura Hughston - Blog
Arnoux Mouafo Nopi & Dimitri Tsona Zapzi - Article
Prof. Wangari Mwai and Prof. Catherine Ndungo - BOOK
- Understanding Gender and Identity Through The Gender Dictionary
Publisher: Bleeding Ink Scribes
RAI SENGUPTA - gender-transformative evaluation tools
This synthesis draws on evidence from 17 humanitarian evaluations across diverse crisis settings. It identifies key feminist evaluation innovations across four domains - design, methods, analysis, and ethics - illustrating how feminist principles can be embedded throughout the evaluation process. It also surfaces broader shifts required at policy, institutional, and practice levels to realise the transformative potential of feminist approaches in humanitarian contexts.
The toolkit translates these insights into applied guidance for evaluators and organisations. It provides step-by-step support across the full evaluation cycle, including planning, design, methods, analysis, ethics, and dissemination. Drawing on global feminist evaluation practice, humanitarian guidance, and gender evaluation standards, it includes adaptable tools, participatory and arts-based methods, guiding questions, and templates for field application.
Ritu Dewan & Swat Raju - Article
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In Promises & Reality 2026 Citizen’s Review of Year 2 of the NDA-III Government. Coordinated by Wada Na Todo Abhiyan, June 20, 2026. pp 94-100.
UTTHAN - Research Report
Traversing the path with women farmers in their fields and in our reflections/writings, a stark observation was the sheer lack of localized and regional vocabulary and terminology to adequately capture and communicate the understanding of climate change and mitigation strategies, informed by the unique experiences and needs of small and marginal women farmers. This is what propelled our research - to examine how women farmers perceive, express, experience, and respond to climate variability across
Our Research Report centres the lived experiences, generational knowledge, and resilience strategies of small and marginal women farmers from the coastal (Bhavnagar) and hilly (Dahod & Panchmahal) regions i.e two contrasting agro-climatic zones of Gujarat. Through their voices, the study reveals exactly how climate change intersects with gender, land rights, labour burdens, and food security.
Events
Vacancies
About the job
At Includovate, we are expanding our Pacific Research & Evaluation Talent Pool and inviting researchers, evaluators, consultants, and development practitioners to join a growing network of professionals committed to creating meaningful social impact.
As a feminist research incubator and certified social enterprise, Includovate works with partners including UNICEF, UNFPA, the ILO, governments, and development organisations across 23+ countries. Our work spans gender equality, social inclusion, health, disability, youth, climate, WASH, market systems, and other development priorities.
We are particularly keen to connect with experts from:
📍 Papua New Guinea
📍 Solomon Islands
📍 Vanuatu
📍 Timor-Leste
📍 Fiji
📍 Samoa
📍 Tonga
📍 Indonesia
📍 Australia
and across the wider Pacific region.
We welcome expertise in:
✓ Research, Monitoring, Evaluation & Learning
✓ Gender Equality & Social Inclusion
✓ Health & SRHR
✓ Disability Inclusion
✓ Youth Development
✓ Climate & Environment
✓ WASH
✓ Market Systems Development
✓ Governance & Community Development
Whether your expertise lies in data collection, research, evaluation, technical advisory, facilitation, or team leadership, we would love to hear from you.
By joining our Talent Pool, you become part of a trusted network of professionals who may be considered for future research, evaluation, advisory, and consulting opportunities across the Pacific region and beyond.
🔗 Register here: https://lnkd.in/eyF66S7H
Evaluation for the World We Want! My takes from the Canadian Evaluation Society Conference, 2015
The theme of the 2015 Canadian Evaluation Society (CES) Conference "Evaluation of the World We Want" appealed to my mind and heart and I hence decided to submit a paper and apply for bursary. I was fortunate to get part bursary from the CES and part from the Indian Social Studies Trust which enabled me to participate in the Conference.
The presentations at the opening plenary were thought provoking. They drew attention to the need for locating evaluations in the context of a development paradigm that focused on equity, human rights, sustainable development and climate change adaptation. It was emphasized that such evaluations would need to look at, and promote, gender and diversity as well.
If evaluations are to make such a difference, they need to strengthen “evaluation power” (capacities and authority) of agencies involved in evaluations as well as enhance ”power of evaluation” to speak the truth to power holders. An indicator of the latter was whether and how had budgets/expenditures shifted to incorporate the recommendations.
Several methods of capturing shifts in power relations were discussed in the CES. One was using a ‘SenseMaker’ (http://www.sensemaker-suite.com/) to record key shifts in power relations indicated in responses of adolescent girls and mothers to questions on the lives of adolescent girls (in general, not each individual in particular). Thus if 100 adolescent girls were interviewed, it was recorded as to how much percentage reported that the girls were able to continue in school after onset of puberty, avoid child marriages, etc. This method could be used with adolescent boys or any marginalized group as well to understand shifts in gender and social dynamics.
Another method was to asked women and men from low income groups what had changed in the last five years (for better and worse) and why, and what the government should do to move towards the world women and men from marginalized groups wanted. This method, like the ‘SenseMaker’, helped understand the shifts in power and reasons across sectors (e.g health, education) and institutions (e.g. family, community, market, state etc.); and contrasted with the sectoral and input/process/output focus of government evaluations. A power-point on this follows!
A challenging evaluation method for assessing rule of law which is vivid in my memory is use of human rights monitors to track what happens to a law suit once it is filed (and the person who filed the same), recording demands of bribe and hurdles to justice. This method, while posing risks for the human rights monitor, has drawn attention to procedural and institutional loopholes as well vagaries of humans. Such monitoring has enhanced access to justice, but may need to be repeated periodically. For assessing the rule of law at the national level, the World Council of Justice has evolved the Rule of Law index which is used to rate countries (see http://worldjusticeproject.org/rule-of-law-index.) This index focuses on state accountability, and could incorporate indicators of adherence to rule of law by families, community institutions and work place organisations.
Evaluation of partnerships is more difficult, and participants in one panel pointed to the need for assessment of membership, frequency of meetings, level of participation, capacity enhancement of members, production of value addition tools, collective action for change and contribution to changes in practice or policy/legal change . While partnerships may involve multiple partners, whether individual members develop horizontal relationship with another based on shared relationship could be another indicator.
The need for quantification in addition to qualitative evaluation was called for by several speakers. Some spoke in the northern context, pointing that evaluations should point to areas which could be ‘cut back’ with least damage given the budget deficit. On the other hand a majority were concerned that evaluation should also point to social return on investment. Interventions should be assessed for their social returns, as well as compared with social returns on alternative forms of investment using the same money. The difference between social return and cost-benefit analysis was debated.
At a conceptual level, the UN agencies touched on the elements of gender-mainstreaming. They themselves called upon the need for greater clarity between terms such as gender-responsive, gender-sensitive, gender-aware and gender-equitable mainstreaming.
Thus Evaluation of the World We Want is complex. Evaluation has to both speak to power and alter power structures, resource distribution and institutional norms. What this means may from context to context.
Yes, this was a Conference I immensely enjoyed. The hospitality and 'buddy' system (pairing me with a Canadian participant- Nancy on the photo) and the charm of Montreal were added bonuses.
Ranjani.K.Murthy, 2015
rk_km2000@yahoo.com
Add a Comment
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Comment by Rukmini Panda on June 9, 2015 at 16:15
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Dear Ranjinidi
Thanks a lot for sharing this thought provoking piece.
Regards,
Rukmini
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Comment by Rituu B Nanda on June 8, 2015 at 19:53
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Thanks Ranjani. We can't attend all the conferences but can learn from each other who attend. I particularly enjoyed learning about evaluating partnerships through you. I used to coordinate a large sex worker network so of interest to me.
Wish you had also got some cool breeze from Canada too...very hot here in Delhi:-)
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