Evaluation as crossing boundaries

The status quo and – rooted in it − our experiences, knowledge and habits are insufficient to meet demands of the dynamic changes that occur in the societies, in politics, in economic and environmental affairs, and are insufficient to reduce the growing levels of uncertainty. The question about the role of evaluation in these processes will be a central point of discussions to be held at the Third International Evaluation Congress under the key theme “Evaluation as crossing boundaries”. Are evaluators ready to face ever changing demands of the modern times? How can crossing borders in evaluation affect the perception of different systems, institutions or research results? The topics of this year’s Congress include sustainable development goals, smart cities’ solutions, evaluation activities in local self-government units, levels of trust in the society, citizen science, as well as support for young evaluators.

“Every institution or programme has a story to tell about its origin, its development, its achievements at a particular time”[1] − wrote a renowned scholar from the United Kingdom who provided important contributions to the establishment of the Polish Evaluation Society and the promotion of participatory evaluation. Professor Helen Simons will be our guest of honour at the Congress this year.

We invite guests from Poland and abroad, including from the United Kingdom, Germany, Ukraine, Czech Republic, as well as from Jordan, South Africa and Sri Lanka and we want to look through local, regional and global lenses and point to their common denominator – which is the need for cooperation and reflection on the boundaries of evaluation  The process of crossing these boundaries in evaluation requires us to change our current thinking  and shift the focus from  acquiring and possessing resources  to collaborating in creating those and sharing  them.

We cordially invite you to take part in the Third International Evaluation Congress organized by the Polish Evaluation Society in collaboration with the Jerzy Regulski Foundation in Support of Local Democracy. The Congress will be held under the patronage of the International Organization for Cooperation in Evaluation (IOCE), which brings together evaluation societies from around the world, as well as the EvalPartners and Eval4Action, which are the evaluation initiatives undertaken by the United Nations (UN) and IOCE. His Magnificence Rector of the Jagiellonian University and the Centre for Evaluation and Analysis of Public Policies are the Honorary Patrons of the Congress.

[1] In: Helen Simons (2009). Case Study Research in Practice (Prologue). Sage Publications Ltd.

“Evaluation as crossing boundaries”

The plenary session of 3rd Evaluation Congress organized by the Polish Evaluation Society gathers evaluation experts from across Europe who never stayed in their ivory towers of academia, but worked for decades on the margins of many different communities as evidence advocates. Being practitioners, academics, leaders of VOPEs they crossed geographic, sector, stakeholder, disciplinary, demographic  and most importantly as it seems nowadays – ideological boundaries.
These mentality travels has brought them on the watershed of evaluation where now we can learn from their experience and exchanges in this panel.

As Chris Ernst, Donna Chrobot-Mason writes in the book called Boundary Spanning Leadership: “Borders, barriers, limits, obstacles, and constraints—there is no shortage of boundaries in today’s challenging business and political environment. When times are tough, our natural tendency is to hunker down. Battle lines are drawn. Organizational silos get taller. Worldviews shrink, attitudes narrow, and positions tighten. All too often, boundaries create borders that divide groups into Us and Them. The result can be fractured relationships, diminished resources, suboptimal results, and divisive conflict. Yet, boundaries are also frontiers. Wherever group boundaries collide and intersect, there is potential for different ways of working and new forms of collaboration. Boundaries can reveal new frontiers for solving pressing problems, driving innovation, and leading breakthrough change.”

We now turn to them to find that fragile balance between building resilience in turbulent times and staying on the fertile intersections of the discussions about the future of evaluation. Have we managed to increase the level of evaluation use in the institutions and countries we serve? Can we move on from this classical theme in our conference with a feeling of a well done job in serving evidence based decision making in pandemic times?

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