Where Will We Be in Twenty Years?

ieg_admin — Sun, 15 Sep 2013 04:00:00 +0000

Where Will We Be in Twenty Years? ieg_admin Sun, 09/15/2013 - 00:00

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Evaluators have called in recent years for more effectively transferring research findings to the workplace. Evidence-based management is seen as the way forward to close the research-practice gap, drawing on the analogy of clinical trials in the medical field. However there is an important difference between medical research and public management evaluators: the former are practitioners, while the latter can only give advice. To address this, evaluators need to go through a three step process to have an impact on management practice. First, they need to develop theories that provide analytic insight into management processes, backed up by evaluative evidence. The complex context we work in makes this analytic work increasingly challenging, as the cited piece by Straub points out. A highly relevant reference for IEG in this domain is Ramalingam, Ben. 2013. Aid on the Edge of Chaos. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Second, they need a strategy for giving advice to managers drawing on this insight. Third, managers need to know how to use this advice. IEG does a reasonable job on the first step, but has done little to apply analytical tools to understand and enhance our work in steps 2 and 3.

Hi Caroline, I read your article with interest and could not help feeling your strong desire to facilitate change. I am part of an international team that teach a course about exploring in consciousness, it's called Avatar. The intention of this course is to facilitate change by teaching people the tools to Live Deliberately, it takes them away from the blame game, empowering them to create their dreams. The shift you were wanting us to imagine, is actually happening right now as people around the world reconnect with their own intuitive knowing that they have become disconnected from, using the experiential Avatar tools. If you are interested in learning about Avatar go to: www.theavatarcourse.com

Clay: great comments. Ben and I have spoken about his book when he was in the early stages of writing and he had sent me an early copy. Lots of great food for thought. In terms of "giving advice", IEG has an incredible capacity for outreach activities, more than any other evaluation office I have worked for. We organize seminars, workshops, participate in conference, and share our evaluations through conferences, social media, and our website. One such event was our recent workshop in Nigeria, organized together with the World Bank's Africa Region and Human Development Network as well as the IFC's Nigeria Office and Corporate Results Team to share the lessons from our Youth Employment Evaluation and other relevant studies produced by within the Bank Group and outside of it. This event was very well received and fostered learning from evaluation.

Bruce, thanks for the suggestion. When living in Rome, I had the opportunity to participate in an Avatar training -- a great resource, indeed.

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Where Will We Be in Twenty Years?

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