Hi, I am Sara Vaca (Independent Evaluator and Saturday’s contributor to this blog). One day some months ago I tweeted that this book by Michael Patton (Qualitative Research & Evaluation Methods: Integrating Theory and Practice) was solving two thirds of my evaluation doubts. “What is the other third?” he replied. And he left me thinking. …
Sharing My Top 10 Evaluation Doubts by Sara Vaca Read More »
Hey! I’m Sara Vaca, independent evaluator and part of the AEA365 team. I’m not in Cleveland (sad face) this week (as I just came back for the European Evaluation Conference (EES) in Greece), but I wish I was, as I love evaluation conferences. I am not an expert compared to so many admired evaluators who …
Things NOT To Do! (;-P) At The AEA Conference by Sara Vaca Read More »
Hey! I’m Sara Vaca, independent evaluator and part of the AEA365 team, eventual Saturday contributor. Some time ago, I ran into this framework for critical thinking and I thought it was interesting for evaluators. Rad Resource: The Six Thinking Hats is a system designed by Edward de Bono which describes a tool for group discussion …
Hi, I’m Sara Vaca, independent evaluator working in international development evaluation, helping Sheila curate this blog and being a Saturday contributor, and I want to share with you a short reflection on something that is bugging me lately. Conducting an evaluation is a process: a rich, participatory, multi-partner, multidimensional process, that has to be later …
Hi, I’m Sara Vaca, independent consultant (www.SaraVaca.com), helping Sheila curate this blog and eventual Saturday contributor. After 5 years as a freelance evaluator, I am starting to get more contracts coming from previous jobs or mouth-to-ear, but still, I see myself going through the regular selection process: the evaluation commissioners publish the Terms of Reference …
Hi, I’m Sara Vaca, independent consultant, helping Sheila curate this blog and occasional Saturday contributor. I haven’t been an evaluator for a long time (about 5 years now), but I have facilitated or been part of 16 evaluations, so I start getting over the initial awe of the exercise, and I am starting to be …
Facilitating the Use of Evaluations by Sara Vaca Read More »
Hi, I am Sara Vaca (Independent Evaluator and Saturday’s contributor to this blog), and today I am sharing part of the work Lovely Dhillon (Jodevi Consulting) and I have been doing on regarding Theories of Change. Since Theories of Change (ToCs) are having a lot of attention lately, we wanted to share our learning and …
Refining Theories of Change by Sara Vaca and Lovely Dhillon Read More »
Hi, I’m Sara Vaca, independent consultant (www.SaraVaca.com), AEA365 Outreach Coordinator and Creative Advisor, and contributor to Saturday’s posts. As a former program manager, evaluator and meta-evaluator, I have come across maaaany reports. And probably many less that you. Lesson Learned: Reports (inception reports, evaluation reports, program reports, you-name-it-reports) seem to continue to be one of …
Using Powerpoint To Do Evaluation Reports by Sara Vaca Read More »
Hi, everyone! I’m Sara Vaca, independent consultant and AEA365 Outreach Coordinator and Creative Advisor. Some weeks ago, I was approached by four graduate students from the University of Rochester (pursuing the Master’s degree in Program Evaluation), who had been tasked with interviewing a practicing evaluator and had chosen me to know about my career as …
6 Tips for New Evaluators by Sara Vaca Read More »
Hi, I’m Sara Vaca, independent consultant (www.SaraVaca.com), AEA365 Outreach Coordinator and Creative Advisor (happy to be back!), and it’s been 4 years and a half since I started my evaluation practice. In that time, I have been involved (to different extent) in about five different partnerships. Belonging or working with a group of consultants (in …
5 things that being in a consultants’ partnership and dating have in common by Sara Vaca Read More »
