EvalYouth Week: YEEs and VOPEs: Addressing the Active Involvement and Institutionalization in VOPE´s Governance by Rodrigo Luna, Fazeela Hoosen, Alejandra Lucero, Corey Smith, and Amal Shanty

Hello everyone! We are Task Force 1 (TF1) leaders, Rodrigo Luna (Nicaragua), Fazeela Hoosen (South Africa) and Alejandra Lucero (Argentina) and two taskforce members, Corey Smith (USA) and Amal Shanty (Palestine) from the global EvalYouth initiative. The aim of TF1 is to increase the engagement of Young and Emerging Evaluators (YEEs) in Voluntary Organizations for Professional Evaluation (VOPE) governance and activities.

We are from different regions of the world but are working toward a common goal: increasing the inclusion and institutionalization of YEEs in the processes of VOPE governance. We believe that achieving this goal will foster the transfer of knowledge and experiences across generations and encourages YEEs to become future leaders in the evaluation profession. Our first step towards achieving this goal is to understand the contributions that are being made by YEEs as part of the decision-making processes within VOPEs, and what value YEEs can add to VOPE work.

The TF1 has started a mapping exercise on the current status and needs related to YEE involvement in VOPE governance, committees and activities in the different regions of the world. An online survey has been developed in different languages to ensure as many people who are working as part of VOPEs, get the opportunity to share their experiences with us. The results aims to identify the current YEEs already involved in VOPEs and will be used to inform strategies to further enhance YEE involvement in VOPEs.

Lesson Learned:

There is currently no baseline of the number of YEEs that are actively involved in VOPE work in the different countries and regions, and there is a lack of information on formal leadership pathways for YEEs in many VOPEs. This provides a rationale for the need to understand the extent of YEE involvement in VOPE’s governance, committees and activities. Moreover, it will assist in identifying the factors that have supported or hindered YEE involvement and what is needed to encourage YEE involvement in VOPEs.

Get Involved:

• We invite VOPE leaders (current or past board members), those involved in the work of VOPEs, and YEEs to respond to this survey. You can respond in six languages: English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Arabic, and Russian
• EvalYouth TF1 holds monthly virtual meetings. So, if you are interested in contributing and being part of this important and exciting work we are doing, we would like to hear from you. Please send us an email to (EvalYouth@gmail.com)
• Finally, we plan on undertaking a campaign to promote YEE sharing stories and experiences and to obtain the perceptions of VOPE leaders on why it is important to include YEE as part of a VOPE. The results of the survey and additional work of the TF1 will be announced at the next Global Forum in Kyrgyzstan.

The American Evaluation Association is celebrating EvalYouth week. EvalYouth addresses the need to include youth and young people in evaluation. The contributions all this week to aea365 come from members of EvalYouth. Do you have questions, concerns, kudos, or content to extend this aea365 contribution? Please add them in the comments section for this post on the aea365 webpage so that we may enrich our community of practice. Would you like to submit an aea365 Tip? Please send a note of interest to aea365@eval.org. aea365 is sponsored by the American Evaluation Association and provides a Tip-a-Day by and for evaluators.