Author Archives: radical (re)imagining

I’m (Libby) sitting down to write this post on the eve of #Eval21 – or rather Eval Reimagined – a Virtual Experience. There’s been a lot of reimagining these past 20 months. This year’s AEA conference theme asks us to Meet The Moment — a recognition of both our 35 years as an association andContinue reading “Meeting the Moment”

We have had a wonderful year so far and have spoken with authentic, reflective, and thoughtful humans in the midst of this pandemic. Even through the trials and tribulations of a year and a half that have seemed defeating and draining at times, we have had the privilege and pleasure to radically imagine with youContinue reading “In Community”

As you may know, we do our best to build out our monthly topics based on our guest discussions each month. Last month, we were honored to have Dr. Aisha Rios join us. She shared her experiences as a practitioner and spoke about abolition within evaluation. This was an excellent foundation for the next threeContinue reading “Becoming Culturally Responsive”

Last month Tiffany wrote about embracing collaboration as a path towards moving evaluation to a system of learning, rather than a system of accountability. We had an enlightening chat about that post with frequent Rad commenter and PhD student Chris Hall. He spoke extensively about the political and historical context of evaluation (listen here ifContinue reading “Departing the Buffer Zone”

Thank you for joining us for the July reflection from Tiffany Tovey: Rory Neuner reflected in our last podcast episode, “It’s a good idea to remind ourselves that we’re all working really for the same end goals.” As evaluators in this society, we are more often than not being brought into programs and organizations thatContinue reading “When 1+1=3”

Over the past several weeks, I’ve (Deven) been reflecting on how organizations (specifically community-based non-profit organizations) engage in evaluation. The activity can often feel like an afterthought; one in which boxes are being checked and a report is being delivered but without a clear or substantive why or for whom (I.e., why do we wantContinue reading “Can we be in right relationship with funders?”

This month marks a year that Deven, Tiffany, and I have been asking ourselves, and you, questions about how to be more human in this work of evaluation. The reflections you’ve shared and the conversations we’ve had with our podcast guests have been among the most valuable moments of this last/lost year. The discussion hasContinue reading “Keep Asking Questions”

Last month, Deven shared some critical reflections on how he uses his own social capital in this work. We capped off our March reflective practice by chatting amongst ourselves in our podcast about our social capital in this space (Rad-space 😊) and what it means to be inclusive. A note: We could do better. WhatContinue reading “To DO the work…”

This month, I want to build upon a question Maddy Frey (last month’s RAD guest) was reflecting on, which was (1) recognizing the power held and (2) wrestling with whether or not we should be giving up that power (knowing it’s at least in part a derivative of privilege and social capital).  I’m particularly drawnContinue reading “Using Our Social Capital”

Is anyone else having a hard time naming this space that we are in right now? We’re a month into 2021, and it’s pretty clear that 2020 wasn’t the problem. We’re 11 days into a new presidency, and while we can all take a collective deep breath now, our deep wounds remain unhealed. As theContinue reading “Liminal Space”