I agree that evaluators are not the only one trying to find solutions, and that programme managers and decision makers should not be off the hook, but I do think that evaluators need to propose reasonable solutions to the problems they raise.
Otherwise I don’t see their value added, nor what makes evaluation different from research. Also, an evaluation that would shy away from proposing solutions would be in my opinion a rather facile and negative exercise: it’s not so hard to spot issues and problems, anyone can do that; the hard part is to propose something better, in a constructive manner. Forcing oneself to come up with reasonable alternatives is often an exercise in humility, in that it forces one to realize that “critique is easy, but art is difficult”.
RE: Reporting and supporting evaluation use and influence
Hi Silvia and all,
I agree that evaluators are not the only one trying to find solutions, and that programme managers and decision makers should not be off the hook, but I do think that evaluators need to propose reasonable solutions to the problems they raise.
Otherwise I don’t see their value added, nor what makes evaluation different from research. Also, an evaluation that would shy away from proposing solutions would be in my opinion a rather facile and negative exercise: it’s not so hard to spot issues and problems, anyone can do that; the hard part is to propose something better, in a constructive manner. Forcing oneself to come up with reasonable alternatives is often an exercise in humility, in that it forces one to realize that “critique is easy, but art is difficult”.
All the best,
Olivier