Experience of being a member of Gender and Evaluation Community

[Monika Banerjee]

Dear All,

I am Monika Banerjee working as a Research Fellow at the Institute of Social Studies Trust (ISST), New Delhi. I am currently trying to compile the Annual Report of ISST for the year 2020-21.

As you know that this online platform on Gender and Evaluation is being hosted by ISST since 2013 and we at ISST are extremely happy to see the way your participation is constantly strengthening this platform year after year.

This year for the annual report, we thought of including some reflections on the experiences of being part of this large family. It will also give us an understanding of areas where gains are visible and those where more work is required. Therefore, I request you to kindly help us in posting some of your reflections in terms of your experiences of being a member of this gender and eval online community.

We would like to know what has been your experience till date of being a member of this online community and in what way has it helped your work and career.

Hoping to hear from you all soon.

warm regards,

Monika

[Hooshmand Alizadeh]

This is nearly one month since my registration in Gender and Evaluation. I like to follow the works of other and I hope I can get some insights for my project which deals with women and public space in different urban cultural contexts. 

All you the best,

Hooshmand Alizadeh

[Ivan G. Somlai]

Dear Monika,

In brief--and could expand if desired in separate email:

I had worked 3 years in the improvement and delivery of social services and governance in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in Pakistan. Working with women was difficult in the more culturally conservative areas. As Manager of 50 local staff, I insisted that we do no work in any community wherein we were not welcomed not only by the women, but also by the decision-makers and influencers. This then necessitated trust building in various ways. For me, this also meant approaching mullahs to explain why we were available, how we work, what are the limits of what we can do and who or what kind of resource person from our project would be likely to interface with the women. It was an unusual move, but successful in the end with mullahs, in at least a couple of communities wherein the religious leaders even suggested to women that attendance in particular programmes would be beneficial. A corollary to this was that I was invited several times to meet with these mullahs and the continuing dialogue aloowed us to learn more of each other and strengthen mutual trust.

[susmita mukherjee]

this platform has always given us food for thought. the questions and work done by others when shared are many a times adding to areas of interest to deep dive and study it more. it really adds to your intellectual yourself. Great going! my best wishes for the platform.

[nigussie mihretu]

Dear Monika,thank you for the good work in establishing and strengthening this online platform.Regarding my contribution to the community,nothing.But the resources you are sharing online are useful. In the future, I will try to contribute. Anyway, keep up the good work.
Thank you very much& regards,
Nigussie

[Rachel Vinciguerra]

As a new evaluator, I feel very lucky to have found this community while interning at UNDP in Bangkok this summer. It is precisely in my area of interest and expertise and I am constantly learning about opportunities through this site. The fact that this community is free to participate in is incredibly valuable to me as a graduate student. Although I pay for subscriptions to other evaluation communities, this is truly the one where I find the best professional development. I have participated in webinars and in-person events and look forward to continuing involvement with this group of professionals in the field from around the world.

[Dr. Soumaya Ibrahim Huber]

Thank You for the material You share online, for the online events allowing us to participate and connecting us face -to-face on the international conferences .

[KEFA KAWANGUZI]

Dear All,

Meeting you  on this platform and learning from you through the discussion we have  had has enriched  my competencies in gender evaluation. My challenge has been with the webinars because of the time differences.

Thank you

[Adiza Lamien Ouando]

Dear Monika,

Thank you for given us the opprtunity to speak of what think if the platform. For me it has a great importance as it connects people, expert or aspirants in gender and evaluation. Webinars and other onlines activities add value to the members' knowledge. Sharing informations on National Evaluation Societies or associations is part of capacity building activites together with online or face to face trainings. 

As members we should vote more time to take advantage of the plateform more than we do know.

[Sindhu Nambiath]

Hi Monika, 

I am based in Delhi, India. This platform helps me learn a lot. I look for new  information,  knowledge, methods, approaches, strategies  and practices in the area of gender evaluation and try to learn from other's work. This is a great platform for that and I try following discussions as much as possible. I am not a very active member or great contributer, though.

Thank you so much.

Sindhu

[Eddah Kanini]

The experience has been productive for me. I have had the opportunity to learn from others and also to share my knowledge, experience and results of my work.

Its through being a member of this community that I was able to meet other colleagues physically in Greece during theEES conference after Rituu Nanda took the initiative to search for us all and made sure we get to know each other. Thank you Rituu.

The resources generously shared, have also been of great help professionally.

[Elena Gallina]

Very grateful to this community for the willingness to connect, assist, and advice on a research project/journalism trip to Kabul this summer. Got great feedback and an openness from community members to share advice!

[Rituu B Nanda]

 Reply by Prakash Kumar yesterday 

It is really great platform to understand contemporary issue and challenges of evaluation and also sharing workshops, conferences, and opportunities as well.

Thanks