The current health crisis is already having a powerful effect on non-profit organizations, many of whom had been economically challenged even before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. (See “A New Mission for Nonprofits During the Outbreak: Survival” by David Streitfeld, New York Times, March 27, 2020) Despite economic challenges, and as the immediate health crisis develops, non-profits will need information, including accurate and robust evaluation and monitoring information, even more than ever.
Under conditions of uncertainty and tumultuous social-environmental environments, and rapid adaptation, non-profits will benefit from information gathered by flexible and adaptable evaluation approaches like Developmental Evaluation. “Developmental evaluation (DE) is especially appropriate for…organizations in dynamic and complex environments where participants, conditions, interventions, and context are turbulent, pathways for achieving desired outcomes are uncertain, and conflicts about what to do are high. DE supports reality-testing, innovation, and adaptation in complex dynamic systems where relationships among critical elements are nonlinear and emergent. Evaluation use in such environments focuses on continuous and ongoing adaptation, intensive reflective practice, and rapid, real-time feedback.”
As Michael Quinnn Patton has recently pointed out, “All evaluators must now become developmental evaluators, capable of adapting to complex dynamics systems, preparing for the unknown, for uncertainties, turbulence, lack of control, nonlinearities, and for emergence of the unexpected. This is the current context around the world in general and this is the world in which evaluation will exist for the foreseeable future.”
Developmental Evaluation, the kind of evaluation approach Brad Rose Consulting has employed for many years, is extremely well-suited to serve the evaluation and information needs of non-profits, educational institutions, and foundations. For more information about our approach, please see our previous article “Developmental Evaluation: Evaluating Programs in the Real World’s Complex and Unpredictable Environment” and “Evaluation in Complex and Evolving Environments” .
Resources:
“A New Mission for Nonprofits During the Outbreak: Survival” by David Streitfeld, New York Times, March 27, 2020
“Evaluation Implications of the Coronavirus Global Health Pandemic Emergency,” Michael Quinn Patton
Evaluation in Complex and Evolving Environments
