S14_ Learning, Equity, and Innovation in EU Policy Evaluation: Methods and Practice for Vibrant Democracies [joint TWG 7 EU Policies and EEPF Proposal]
S16_ When the world changes, evaluation must change too: Systems Thinking for changing mindsets, methods, and institutions.
S14_ Learning, Equity, and Innovation in EU Policy Evaluation: Methods and Practice for Vibrant Democracies [joint TWG 7 EU Policies and EEPF Proposal]
S16_ When the world changes, evaluation must change too: Systems Thinking for changing mindsets, methods, and institutions.
S15_ Rebalancing Power: Feminist and Decolonial Pathways to Democratic Evaluation
Jaynie Vonk, Karen Biesbrouck, Petra Novakova, Svetlana Negroustoueva
Rationale and Objectives
Across Europe and globally, democratic systems are under strain due to polarisation, shrinking civic space, declining trust in institutions, and widening inequalities. Although evaluation is often framed as a democratic accountability and learning tool, dominant paradigms reproduce hierarchical power relations, technocratic decision-making, and narrow definitions of evidence.
This strand explores how evaluation can shift political and advocacy practice by disrupting existing power relations. It asks whose knowledge counts, who defines value and success, and how evaluation is commissioned, framed, and used. Drawing on decolonial, feminist, and critical traditions, the strand moves beyond academic critique to explore shifts in evaluation design, methods, commissioning, and use, to strengthen democratic legitimacy, trust, and accountability.
This strand invites evaluation practitioners, researchers, commissioners, and policy actors working in politically complex or contested contexts to critically examine and reimagine all evaluation as critical to supporting democracy. Contributions are welcome that connect theory, ethics, and practice and offer insights into how evaluation can redistribute power, be transformative and amplify marginalised voices. In an era of shrinking civic space and declining trust, evaluation must move beyond bureaucratic compliance to become a mechanism for social transformation. This strand aligns with the conference theme Systemic Learning by exploring how feminist and decolonial MEAL helps evaluators navigate complex, non-linear change, where "holding ground" or even backlash can signal meaningful shifts in challenging entrenched power structures.
The strand moves beyond a gender lens, reflecting the evolution of feminist evaluation itself. Democratizing evaluation requires shifting power from Global North "experts" to local movements and partners as co-creators, including a shift from top down accountability to more mutual or bottom up forms of accountability. By centering Responsiveness, the sessions highlight reflexivity and facilitator postures that uplift unheard voices and ensure findings are grounded in the plural, situated knowledges of those closest to change.
Overall, the strand offers a multi-layered inquiry into systemic learning – from decolonizing evaluation criteria to practical feminist approaches, navigating quantitative rigor in complex programs, and embracing relational, peer-to-peer reviews.
Theory: Advancing Responsiveness and Reflexivity as methodological pillars for systemic inquiry. Practice: Sharing innovative methods that capture qualitative and relational power shifts. Policy: Demonstrating how evaluation and feedback systems can influence policy and practice to address root causes of injustice.
This strand explores how evaluation can shift political and advocacy practice by disrupting existing power relations. It asks whose knowledge counts, who defines value and success, and how evaluation is commissioned, framed, and used. Drawing on decolonial, feminist, and critical traditions, the strand moves beyond academic critique to explore shifts in evaluation design, methods, commissioning, and use, to strengthen democratic legitimacy, trust, and accountability.
This strand invites evaluation practitioners, researchers, commissioners, and policy actors working in politically complex or contested contexts to critically examine and reimagine all evaluation as critical to supporting democracy. Contributions are welcome that connect theory, ethics, and practice and offer insights into how evaluation can redistribute power, be transformative and amplify marginalised voices. In an era of shrinking civic space and declining trust, evaluation must move beyond bureaucratic compliance to become a mechanism for social transformation. This strand aligns with the conference theme Systemic Learning by exploring how feminist and decolonial MEAL helps evaluators navigate complex, non-linear change, where "holding ground" or even backlash can signal meaningful shifts in challenging entrenched power structures.
The strand moves beyond a gender lens, reflecting the evolution of feminist evaluation itself. Democratizing evaluation requires shifting power from Global North "experts" to local movements and partners as co-creators, including a shift from top down accountability to more mutual or bottom up forms of accountability. By centering Responsiveness, the sessions highlight reflexivity and facilitator postures that uplift unheard voices and ensure findings are grounded in the plural, situated knowledges of those closest to change.
Overall, the strand offers a multi-layered inquiry into systemic learning – from decolonizing evaluation criteria to practical feminist approaches, navigating quantitative rigor in complex programs, and embracing relational, peer-to-peer reviews.
Theory: Advancing Responsiveness and Reflexivity as methodological pillars for systemic inquiry. Practice: Sharing innovative methods that capture qualitative and relational power shifts. Policy: Demonstrating how evaluation and feedback systems can influence policy and practice to address root causes of injustice.