Hello AEA colleagues – Shawna Hoffman and Xiaoxia Newton here. In 2019, we served as the leadership of the International and Cross Cultural Evaluation (ICCE) Topical Interest Group (TIG) along with our colleague Mishkah Jakoet.
With the New Year upon us, we’re taking this opportunity to reflect back on the TIG in 2019, and to share three reflections that we’ll carry forward. We’re also excited to be kicking-off the TIG’s first 365 week of the year, so be sure to check out our colleagues’ posts throughout this week.
1.) ICCE may no longer be the largest TIG, but it remains one of AEA’s most active
With 590 members, the ICCE TIG is one of AEA’s largest. It is responsible for not only coordinating its conference proposal reviews, but also for anchoring the International Travel Awards, the International Buddy Program, and the Silent Auction. The TIG also liaises with the International Working Group on matters related to international evaluation.
Hot Tip: Join the ICCE TIG, and up to four others via your eval.org login to ensure that you stay up-to-date on TIG news
Thinking ahead: In 2019, the conference had over 300 international participants (14%) and we want to think this year about how we might better serve as a resource for these individuals – especially first-time attendees.
2.) Equity and equal opportunity can be better embedded into our TIG’s work
Since 2018, we’ve been testing ways to improve the Travel Award process, with an eye toward gender parity and geographic representation. We’ve also been intentional about including individuals from small or resource-scarce organizations, as well as students, that are doing incredible work but may otherwise not be able to attend the conference.
Over the past years, the number of travel award applications has varied – from 46 in 2016, to ~70 in 2017 and 2018, to as low as 33 in 2019. This is a trend we’ll monitor closely, and plan to double-down on promoting the awards this year.
Hot Ttip: if you know exceptional evaluators living and working in developing countries, please let them know about the award. Shout-out to Hubert Palmer for once again managing the Silent Auction – a fun evening for all conference attendees, and also the primary source of funding for the travel awards!
3.) Volunteers are the lifeblood of the ICCE TIG
Hot Tip: We need you. Seriously.
Every year we receive over 100 proposal submissions, each which needs to be scored by at least 3-4 reviewers. We also need 4-5 reviewers per travel award application. Plus, we’re always looking for people to participate in the International Buddy Program, to donate prizes for the Silent Auction and to contribute AEA365 blogs.
If you’re interested in getting involved, or in learning more, reach out to Shawna at sahoffman@rockfound.org.
Hot Tip: no specific skills or experience required!
Rad Resources: Details on International Travel Award eligibility and rough timeline (to be updated in 2020), AEA’s International Buddy Program and Silent Auction can be found at these hyperlinks.
The American Evaluation Association is celebrating International and Cross-Cultural (ICCE) TIG Week with our colleagues in the International and Cross-Cultural Topical Interest Group. The contributions all this week to aea365 come from our ICCE TIG members. 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.