Evaluation societies and organisations are an important pathway for developing evaluation capacity.
These societies and organisations promote the sharing of ideas, best practice, current research and projects. They can be involved with the running of events, conferences and training workshops or courses to help members build their skills and knowledge of evaluation theory and practice.
Evaluation societies and associations are often nonprofit organisations, open to those working in or interested in evaluation. Many societies and associations may charge a small annual membership fee to offset running and organisational costs. Discussing specifically Voluntary Organisations for Professional Evaluation (VOPES), the IOCE notes that:
"VOPEs are important, first and foremost, as professional networks or guilds where evaluators and commissioners of evaluation can meet and discuss issues of mutual interest including promoting the profession, strengthening member evaluation competencies, finding employment opportunities, partnering for professional collaborations, etc. As the evaluation profession as a recognized, distinct profession is less than 20 years old, VOPEs have important roles to play in helping governments and civil society in their countries to understand what evaluation is, and the role evaluation can play in supporting better informed public policy and decision making." (IOCE, 2014)
In the resources below, you will find links to some extensive lists of evaluation organisations and societies. As a starting point, some country-specific organisations have been listed below:
Africa
Egypt: Egyptian Research and Evaluation Network (EREN) (Link currently broken - please let us know if you have a working link for this network)
South Africa: South African Monitoring and Evaluation Association (SAMEA)
Uganda: Uganda Evaluation Association (UEA)
Zambia: Zambia Monitoring and Evaluation Association (ZaMEA)
Zimbabwe: Zimbabwe Evaluation Society (ZES)
Asia-Pacific
Australasia: Australasian Evaluation Society (AES)
India:
- Development Evaluation Society of India (DESI)
- Evaluation Community of India (ECOI)
Indonesia: Indonesian Development Evaluation Community (InDEC)
New Zealand: Aotearoa New Zealand Evaluation Association (ANZEA)
Caribbean
Caribbean: Caribbean Evaluators International (CEI)
Europe
Belgium: Vlaams Evaluatieplatform (Flemish Evaluation Platform) (VEP)
Czech Republic: Czech Evaluation Society (CzES)
Denmark: Dansk Evaluerings Selskab (DES)
France: EVAL (Centre de Ressources en Evaluation)
Germany: Gesellschaft für Evaluation e.V. (DeGEval)
Italy: Associazione Italiana di Valutazione (Italian Evaluation Association) (AIV)
Switzerland: Swiss Evaluation Society
North America
Canada: Canadian Evaluation Society (CES) / Societe Canadienne d'Evaluation (SCE)
Mexico: Academía Nacional de Evaluadores de México (ACEVAL)
USA: American Evaluation Association (AEA)
USA - Arizona: Arizona Evaluation Network (AZENet)
South America
Brazil: Rede Brasileira de Monitoramento e Avaliação (Brazilian M&E Network)
Chile: Red Chilena de Evaluación / Núcleo de Evaluación de Políticas Publicas (ReLAC-Chile / NEPP)
Resources
Sources
IOCE (2014) 'Evaluation Organizations' in International Organization for Cooperation in Evaluation [Website]. Retrieved from: http://www.ioce.net/en/evaluationOrganizations.php
'Evaluation societies and associations' is referenced in:
Blog
Framework/Guide
- Rainbow Framework :
Method