Abstract
For the UK Evaluation Society (UKES), 2014 was an important milestone – our 20th anniversary. As such we wanted to celebrate with an annual conference that featured some of our enduring themes in the UK and internationally. This was reflected in the conference title: Moving with the Times: Evaluation Policy, Practice and Participation.
The first theme was the long tradition of democratic evaluation in the UK as pioneered by Barry MacDonald at University of East Anglia and continued by Nigel Norris – one of our keynote speakers. The second was our engagement with UK government policy, showcased by an input from David Halpern from the UK Behavioural Insights Team who – together with Danielle Mason from the Cabinet Office – has also contributed to this special issue. A third theme focused on the UK’s international role and this was highlighted by Graham Ward, the chief commissioner at the Independent Commission for Aid Impact (ICAI) a body set up to provide independent scrutiny of UK official development assistance (ODA) to Parliament. As ODA has grown year-on-year to meet the commitment by the UK to spend 0.7% of gross national income on ODA, the challenge to prove Value for Money has increased. For example, the UK’s programme in Afghanistan has come under particular scrutiny so we were fortunate to attract Rangina Kargar, the youngest MP from Afghanistan, to this session. She described the appetite for and importance of evaluation in her country. Rural and poor people – many of her constituents – are increasingly demanding more transparency and oversight for which evaluation plays a key role. Another type of oversight was demonstrated by inputs from BBC Media Action who conduct evaluations to better understand the role of the media in enabling good governance.
Along with other evaluation societies, we reflect the plurality of our membership which includes members from government, business and civil society. The latter is especially diverse and active in the UK including non-governmental organisations, voluntary organisations, research and academic departments, all of which are represented in our membership.
At the same time there is an enduring interest in the individual role and responsibilities of the practicing evaluator in contemporary society. Can we balance calls for independence whilst showing ‘truth to power’? What does it mean to be a professional evaluator? Apart from the conference, 2014 also saw some initial work on a potential Voluntary Evaluator Peer Review scheme and this will be piloted in 2015. A steering group, made up of UKES council members, will present a draft framework at the society’s 2015 annual conference and volunteers will be sought to act as reviewers and to be reviewed.
The big themes reflected in this special issue will be carried forward during 2015, they year designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Evaluation.