Even if you can’t attend CES national conference this year, you can still register and attend any of the 18 professional development workshops without having to pay the CES conference fee. Workshops will be held on Sunday, June 9th at the Toronto Fairmont Royal York Hotel. Based on feedback requesting more advanced level workshops, we are proud to offer 13 workshops at the Intermediate and Advance level.

You can register to attend CES 2013 Workshops only on the CES Conference Registration page.

This year, full-time students get a huge price break: $40 for half-day and $80 for full-day workshops!

Are you working as an evaluator? The Canadian Evaluation Society’s credentialing program can provide you with the designation you need to be recognized in your profession. The program offers direction for a number of parties:

1. Practitioners can ascertain the knowledge and skills required to be competent, which guides their professional development
2. Learning organizations and service providers can obtain information on the type of education and development needed to support the evaluation discipline
3. Companies and organizations involved in sourcing or appointing evaluation personnel can obtain information on the expertise needed for the job or to evaluation sub-contractor services
4. Managers working with evaluation professionals can find out what they can expect the evaluator to deliver.

Background to the Program

The Credentialed Evaluator designation came into being in 2010 after five long years spent in due diligence, member consultations and consideration. Prospective candidates are required to demonstrate competency of 70% in each of five domains and provide evidence of their education, related work experience and ongoing professional development. The designation is offered to members as a service by the Society, which also maintains a registry of CEs.

The objectives of the program are to “define, recognize and promote the practice of ethical, high quality and competent evaluation in Canada,” and to contribute to the professionalization of evaluation across the country. The Society does this through stringent qualification of candidates, promotion of continuous learning and maintenance and renewal requirements for evaluators.

Learn more at the CES Toronto 2013 Conference

We’ll have two CEs presenting workshops at the conference:

1. Kaireen Chaytor, Ph. D., CE, who was recognized in 2003 with the national award for contribution to theory and practice in evaluation and installed in 2011 as a Fellow of the Canadian Evaluation Society; and
2. Nancy Carter, Ph.D., CE who is Director, Evaluation Services for the Nova Scotia Health Research Foundation.

Meet credentialed evaluators attending the conference, or participating either as workshop facilitators or conference presenters. It’s a great opportunity to network with them and learn more about the benefits and qualifications for becoming a CE.

There will also be a credentialing Information Session at the conference for experienced evaluators to learn more about the designation and the qualifications needed to apply.

Conference Information Session

You can attend the session on:

Date:                     Tuesday June 11, 2013

Time:                    17:30 – 18:30

Venue:                 Main Mezzanine, Québec room

If you believe the CE designation is for you, attend the session check out the Applicant Guide for more information on how to apply.

Watch this blog for more information on the 2013 conference, or subscribe to our bilingual Conference Newsletter and follow us on social media. You can find us on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Google+.

2015 has been declared the International Year of Evaluation. What does this mean for Canada on the world stage?

Join Us on June 12^th, 2013 to Help Create the Future

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, opening the High Level Meeting on UN Results: Are we achieving them? How do we know? on April 16, 2013 stated: “All of us share a responsibility to strengthen the evaluation function.  We have to tackle the challenge at several levels.”

In the next 5 to 10 years it’s imperative that we consider ways in which evaluation practice can enable social good, if it is to remain a meaningful and engaging discipline.

To kick start this dialogue, we need YOU.

Join Larry Bremner, members of the CES national council and more than 420 of your evaluation peers in a town hall-style, collaborative session on Day 3 of the Canadian Evaluation Conference. Help create our evaluation future! 

Contribute to a robust evaluation community: Across Boundaries.  This final innovative session will capture the collective intelligence using real time polling technology and our experience across the two conference days on the following issues:

1. What challenges do you face as an evaluator?
2. How do you think Evaluation as a field/practice might need to evolve over the next 10 years in order to remain viable?
3. What is our role as practitioner evaluators in this process?

 As you engage in conference activities, consider these questions and bring your comments and opinions to share with your colleagues and partners on Wednesday morning.

Following the keynote address by John Gargani and led by John and Sanjeev Sridharan, join us to explore these questions and develop a declaration to drive the process.

Date : Wednesday June 12, 2013

Time : 09h15

It’s time for action. It’s our future. How we respond to the challenge and determine the impact for our community is entirely up to us.

Be there!

The hotel will provide a baggage drop after checkout for those who plan to leave immediately following the session.

Follow CES Toronto 2013 on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Google+, or subscribe to our bilingual Conference Newsletter.

The Canadian Evaluation Society’s conference is drawing near and there’s little time left before we all meet in Toronto to network and enjoy the great content that’s lined up. To showcase just how global our event is going to be and how we’re living up to the 2013 theme of Evaluation Across Boundaries, we’ve put together this synopsis of workshops from across the world to whet your appetite:

Using Innovative ICT Tools for Effective Evaluation of Social Impact – Live Demonstration (Africa)

with Valentine J Gandhi and Vida Razawi

This workshop will introduce you to ICT (Information and Communications Technology) tools and techniques to measure and report project / programme outcomes to your stakeholders (e.g. donors, funders, supervisors or the general public). At the end of the workshop, you will be familiar with the components of an effective monitoring and evaluation plan using ICT, as well as methods and tools to conduct data collection, statistical analysis and reporting.

Professionals such as Monitoring and Evaluation Officers, Program Officers, Project managers, Research Scholars, Students and any other professionals involved in or interested in learning more about monitoring and evaluation processes will benefit from this course.

Dr Valentine J Gandhi is a development economist and knowledge manager with 11 years of experience in Asia and Africa working both at both the policy and grassroots level. He is the founder of The Development CAFÉ. He also is a consultant for several international donors and UN Agencies on Impact Evaluation and Organizational Capacity Building, Team building and Gender Training. Dr. Ghandi has been described as ‘a citizen of the world’ and is very articulate and generous in sharing his knowledge.

Vida Razawi is a sociologist who integrates ICT-based tools in her research, particularly on activating empathy among school children. She is also editor for an international journal run by DevCAFE called The Development Review.

Empowerment Evaluation (USA)

with David Fetterman

Empowerment evaluation builds program capacity and fosters program improvement.  It teaches people how to help themselves by learning how to evaluate their own programs.  The approach is guided by process use – the more that people conduct their own evaluations the more likely they are to find their findings and recommendations credible and the more likely they are to use them. The role of the evaluator is that of a coach or facilitator in an empowerment evaluation.  The workshop will also highlight how empowerment evaluation produces measurable outcomes with case studies.

Dr. David Fetterman is a past President of the American Evaluation Association and the founder of Empowerment Evaluation. He has provided professional development workshops for over 25 years. Clients include:  Stanford University, the Ministry of Education in Japan; Ministry of Health in Brazil; and the US Office of Special Education.  Dr. Fetterman has taught or facilitated empowerment evaluation workshops world-wide, ranging from Australia to Japan and Brazil to Israel.  He has also successfully taught AEA “coffee breaks” and an eStudy webinar, as well as webinars for UNICEF and Claremont Graduate University.  He has also taught at Stanford for over 25 years.

Causal Inference for Qualitative and Mixed Methods (New Zealand)

with E. Jane Davidson

Many people argue that causal inference simply can’t be done without large-scale quantitative studies, high-powered statistical techniques, and the ability to control the program or intervention. But aren’t there ways to get an approximate answer to the causal question, even using qualitative or mixed method evidence? I think there are – and that’s what this workshop is about.

You will learn eight practical, commonsense strategies to build an evidence base for causal contribution: (1) Ask observers; (2) Match content to outcomes; (3) Modus operandi; (4) Logical timing; (5) Dose-response link; (6) Comparisons; (7) Control variables; (8) Causal mechanisms. You will also learn how a judicious mix of evidence can be woven to build a case for a causal claim – to a level of certainty that makes sense in that context.

Dr. Jane Davidson is internationally recognized for applying critical thinking and evaluative reasoning to evaluation, policy, strategy, and program design. She has delivered workshops at AEA for many years, and they are consistently sold out and rated among the highest each year. She brings a distinctively multidisciplinary and refreshingly practical, plain language approach to her work, which spans education, health, social policy, leadership development, and many other areas.

View the full list of workshops planned for CES Toronto 2013 and make your choice ahead of time. Follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Google+, or subscribe to our bilingual Conference Newsletter.

The evaluation field has long been peppered with great insights, and many of those have been shared with our colleagues through the publication of books. Because it’s a largely academic field, however, authors don’t get quite the same exposure in the open market as more widely-read and popular genres do. So we’ve undertaken to remedy that by making sure you get to meet the pre-eminent authors of evaluation books at the conference, with our “Meet the Authors” book signing event.

Lunch Time Networking

The book signing will be held during lunch time, and will provide a great opportunity for you to connect one-on-one or in small groups with leading Canadian and International evaluation authors. Chat with Robert Schwartz, editor of the Canadian Journal of Program Evaluation or discuss Empowerment Evaluation with David Fetterman.

Participating Authors

We have an exciting line-up of evaluation authors for you to meet, including:

- Gail V. Barrington (pictured above) –Consulting Startup and Management -  Sage 2012

- E. Jane Davidson–Actionable Evaluation Basics – Real Evaluation 2012

- Stephanie Evergreen – Presenting Data Effectively – Sage 2013

- David Fetterman – Empowerment Evaluation in the Digital Village: Hewlett-Packard’s $15 Million Race Toward Social Justice – Stanford 2013

- John Mayne – Enhancing Evaluation Use: Insights from Internal Evaluation Units – Sage 2013

- Hallie Preskill – Evaluating Social Innovation – FSG 2012

- Robert Schwartz –Evaluating the Complex: Attribution, Contribution, and Beyond – Transaction 2011

- Ricardo Ramirez, Dal Brodhead - Utilization-focused evaluation: A primer for evaluators (Southbound, 2013)

Our authors are also participating in CES 2013 as keynote speakers, panel and session presenters, and workshop facilitators. They are looking forward to chatting with you about CES 2013, their publications or any evaluation topic of interest to you.

Buy the Books

By attending the book signing you’ll have the option to purchase the books at a 30% discount, and get the author to sign a book plate for you. You might even win one of the publications if you participate in our raffle. 

Be There

Of course, you need to be at the conference to participate in this and other events we have planned for you. Register without delay to make the most of the early bird discount on registration and hotel rates, which have been extended to Friday 17 May. Listen to this podcast for more information on the activities scheduled for the conference.

Watch this space for more information on the 2013 conference, or subscribe to our bilingual Conference Newsletter and follow us on social media. You can find us on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Google+.

The early bird discount has been extended to Friday May 17th, 2013 so this is your final chance to register and get these incredible rates. If you need any extra motivation, read our post on 4 Reasons to Register for the Conference,  or listen to our podcast on all the exciting things that are lined up

Also, the Fairmount Royal York is offering conference delegates a fabulous deal on room prices, and has extended its deadline too.

So don’t miss out – visit http://cestoronto2013.ca/registration/ to register and http://cestoronto2013.ca/location/ to book your room.

BREAKING NEWS: Early bird pricing has been extended to 17 May 2013. Register now!

Sponsorship support is a vital part of any successful conference, and the Canadian Evaluation Society’s 2013 Conference Evaluation Across Boundaries is no exception. We’d like to recognize and thank the sponsors who signed up early, particularly those who are returning sponsors from previous years:

Johnston Research Inc.

Our first Platinum-level sponsor for this year, Johnston Research is recognized locally and internationally as a leader in Aboriginal evaluation. By using culturally-based knowledge and practices delivered by Aboriginal professionals to meet the needs of clients, Johnston Research Inc. has pioneered the development of evaluation tools to assess and improve culture-based social programming.

“Sponsorship for Johnston Research Inc. is about giving back to the Canadian Evaluation Society,” says  CEO Andrea Johnson, who has a wealth of experience in the field of Aboriginal research and serves on the board of the Society’s Ontario Chapter.

“It is a matter of values and giving credit where it is due. CES is an institution stepping up to today’s challenges of improved financial accountability, enhanced member services. This national conference is about coming together as a nation of Evaluators and networking, exchanging, and celebrating. For us, sponsorship is essential for supporting our future evaluators.” Andrea will be facilitating a workshop at CES Toronto 2013.

Science-Metrix Inc.

An independent research evaluation firm with offices in the U.S. and Quebec, Silver sponsor Science-Metrix is an acknowledged leader in the assessment of science and technology using bibliometric methods and in the evaluation of science-based programs and initiatives. The company has been involved with the annual CES conference for a number of years, with a view to advancing evaluation practice. Members of Science-Metrix will be presenting during the conference.

“While sponsorship provides advantageous benefits and high visibility to our team this event also enables unique knowledge exchange, professional development and business collaboration opportunities,” says Frédéric Bertrand, Vice-President of Evaluation at Science-Metrix Inc.

Cathexis Consulting

Founded in 2001, bronze sponsor Cathexis Consulting specializes in program evaluation. Since its inception the company has carried out more than 175 evaluation and measurement projects for clients ranging from provincial and federal government entities through universities, hospitals and non-profit organizations. As a sponsor for the 7^th consecutive year, Cathexis Consulting wants to help ensure that evaluative thinking is used effectively in decision-making and policy-related processes.

“We believe the CES plays a significant role towards creating an enabling environment where evaluations can make a difference,” says Rochelle Zorzi, CEO of Cathexis Consulting. “The annual CES conference gives us a chance to share our passion and ideas with others who, like us, want to ensure that evaluations contribute to change. Sponsorship means that we get to show our support for the contribution the CES makes to furthering the evaluation field in Canada. Finally, sponsorship helps us to make new connections.”

Sponsor Benefits

We extend an invitation to additional potential funders to invest in evaluation and join the ranks without delay. With four standard sponsorship packages available and multiple customization options, sponsors can create the package that most closely corresponds to their organization’s work and budget. Whether to support the objectives and work done by CES from a philanthropic perspective, to attend participate and network in the conference in a business or thought-leadership capacity or to gain exposure in the evaluation community, we have options sponsors can select to fulfill their needs.

If your company would like to become involved with the conference or sponsor the event, please view the Sponsorship Prospectus on our website. Sponsors who come on board before May 17^th can still get recognition in the print program. After that date the print option will have expired but there are still a number of ways to get sponsor exposure.

Watch this space for more information on the 2013 conference, or subscribe to our bilingual Conference Newsletter and follow us on social media. You can find us on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Google+.

BREAKING NEWS: Early bird pricing has been extended to 17 May 2013. Register now!

Guest Post by John Gargani

A few weeks ago, the New York Times reported that the United States Department of Homeland Security was in the midst of an evaluation failure.

Since 2010, the Department has been struggling to develop a measure of border security that would help Congress evaluate and improve immigration policies. Senior officials reported to Congress that the Department “had not completed the new measurements and were not likely to in coming months.”

This could delay comprehensive immigration reform legislation, which would have vast political, legal, economic, and social consequences.

The State of Modern Evaluation Practice

This is a cautionary tale of the state of modern evaluation practice. It represents a situation in which stakeholders believe that evaluation can improve social change efforts—immigration policies that almost all stakeholders consider flawed—yet evaluation has not. The reasons are complex, touching on long-discussed themes of use, politics, stakeholder inclusion, and methods. However, an important consequence has not been widely discussed—whether in the face of evaluation failure stakeholders will continue to believe that evaluation can improve society for the better.

A Shared Belief

If there is one thing that holds evaluators together as a community it is our shared belief that our work matters. This is more than a belief in the importance of evaluation use. It is a belief about impact. Our impact. We are willing to believe in the impact of our work in the absence of evidence. Should we expect others to do the same? We should not. Nor should we stop believing. We should respond by adapting our practice in ways that are more likely to achieve impact and demonstrate that we have. I call this the new practice of evaluation, and it is emerging in exciting ways in unexpected places.

Shaping Evaluation for the Future

When I give my keynote at the Canadian Evaluation Society Conference (June 9-12), I will be discussing the new practice of evaluation. The conference theme is Evaluation Across Boundaries, a metaphorical hook that is literally what the new practice of evaluation is advancing—evaluators crossing boundaries to become change makers, program designers, and market engineers. I will describe:

• - how this new practice is taking form
• - how it is disrupting evaluation practice today, and
• - how it may shape evaluation practice in the future.

These are principally undirected efforts. Should we—collectively as a profession and individually as practitioners—attempt to influence them? If so how? To what end?

Be Part of the Discussion

I cannot claim to have the answers to these questions. But I want you to be a part of the discussion. Join us in Toronto, let your voice be heard, and help define what evaluation practice will be.

About John Gargani

John Gargani is the President and Founder of Gargani + Company, Inc., a program design and evaluation firm located in Berkeley, California. Over the past 20 years, his work has taken him to diverse settings, including public housing projects, countries adopting free market economies and 19th century sailing ships. He shares his knowledge of program design and evaluation at EvalBlog.com, published articles, workshops, and speaking engagements.

John will be delivering his keynote address “The New Practice of Evaluation: Crossing Boundaries, Creating Change” on Wednesday June 12, 2013 at 8.30 am, directly following the Thematic Breakfast.

A few words from John:

It is an exciting time in evaluation. The boundaries of the profession are expanding and our work is becoming increasingly important to policymakers, program designers, and philanthropists. The challenge we face over next few years is growing our profession in ways that maximize our contribution to the greater good. I am thrilled to be a part of 2013 CES conference where we—as a community—will have a chance to do just that by sharing our visions of the future and advancing the benefits of evaluation.

Watch this space for more information on the 2013 conference, or subscribe to our bilingual Conference Newsletter and follow us on social media. You can find us on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and  Google+.