Let's Decolonize Evaluation together: Make your commitment now!

[Gunjan Veda]

Hello everyone,

I am writing with a special request and an opportunity to showcase our commitment to decolonising evaluation. Many of us have been part of these conversations, but it is now time to Walk the Talk. Decolonizing development requires each one of us. So if you are a monitoring, evaluation, research or learning professional, please join us as we attempt to do our parts in decolonizing evaluation (and if you are not one, pass it on to your MERL team).

The Journal of Multidisciplinary Evaluation is taking out a special issue on Decolonizing evaluation. It is being edited by Bagele Chilisa, Professor of Evaluation, Theory and Practice, University of Botswana and Nicole Bowman (Lunaape/Mohican), PhD from Bowman Performance Consulting and University of Wisconsin Madison – WCER. In keeping with the spirit of the issue, Prof Bagele has agreed to a new way to generate knowledge on where we are in terms of decolonizing evaluation. 

We would like to create a mural for the journal on our commitment to decolonizing evaluation. This is because we believe that the presentation of knowledge should not be restricted and recognize that many cultures prefer a visual way of generating and sharing knowledge. The mural will carry one (or many) action that individuals or organizations propose to take in 2022 to decolonize evaluation. (and yes, we know the exercise will suffer from many biases depending on where this form is circulated- we have a plan and will be happy to discuss it). It can be a baby step or a giant leap----but whatever your commitment is (or even if you are ready to not make one), we encourage you to fill out this form by May 25, 2022 EoD.

If you would like to learn more about decolonizing evaluation, check out this recording of a session organized by InterAction’s Evaluation and Program Effectiveness Community of Practice in April 2022.  All members who fill the forms, will get a link to the mural on May 25 to input their commitments (or we will do it for you). This way we not only see how we are thinking about decolonizing evaluation, but also learn from and inspire each other to take action!

You will also receive a copy of the final mural and the write-up that accompanies it. Please feel free to write the commitment in your own language - it does not have to be in english! And if you would prefer to doodle or draw your commitment, just directly email them to [e-mail]

Let's decolonize evaluation together!

Warm regards and looking forward to your partnership!

Gunjan

[Awuor Ponge]

There is no link to the Commitment Form. You just mention "Fill it out" but it is not hyperlinked.

Can you provide it?

[Srividhya Shanker]

From my view, I can see the form hyperlinked. Here is the URL from my view: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdXiRYQyhinbXg-uxj2c5OrbVa...

[חמוטל גורי]

Such an important and inspiring initiative! Thank you for this. I filled up the form. 

[Amy Gray]

This is wonderful, thank you! I'm excited to see the commitments, and hopefully we can all continue to connect on this journey. 

[Gunjan Veda]

Vidhya, thanks for sharing the link and thank you everyone for your partnership on this!

I will share the mural link after May 25th, when we close the form!

[Laurie Less]

I am totally committed to this and will share.

[Tafadzwa Mavhudzi]

Great initiatives -this is so important 

[Gunjan Veda]

Thanks to everyone who participated. In the short span of 2 weeks, we got 64 responses from 25 countries, including 50+ commitments. We have shared the mural with everyone who made a commitment and will be submitting it to the journal tomorrow.

We hope this will be a step towards decolonising MEL and journals themselves by introducing new ways of expression.