I agree with Olivier and Silva as they speak a word of caution against a potential radicalisation of evidence-based décision making approaches. That is not to say that Malika fell in that risk ( she may just be well justified to call for more objective data to assess gender issues) but let me say that as we plan for an evaluation we should always take into consideration two things ( among many others) :
1) the inherent and irreducible complexity of the evaluand l, as already emphasized by previous Interventions ;
2) the starting point: what is the level of data / information/ knowledge we have on the topic at the start of an evaluation. Critical to the credibility of the evaluation is the capacity of the evaluation team to absorb and synthesize this information in order to put its findings in perspective.
RE: Neutrality-impartiality-independence. At which stage of the evaluation is each concept important?
I agree with Olivier and Silva as they speak a word of caution against a potential radicalisation of evidence-based décision making approaches. That is not to say that Malika fell in that risk ( she may just be well justified to call for more objective data to assess gender issues) but let me say that as we plan for an evaluation we should always take into consideration two things ( among many others) :
1) the inherent and irreducible complexity of the evaluand l, as already emphasized by previous Interventions ;
2) the starting point: what is the level of data / information/ knowledge we have on the topic at the start of an evaluation. Critical to the credibility of the evaluation is the capacity of the evaluation team to absorb and synthesize this information in order to put its findings in perspective.
Khalid El Harizi
Independent evaluation Consultant