EvalForward Talks: Understanding first: why putting understanding before measurement matters

EvalForward Talks: Understanding first: why putting understanding before measurement matters

EvalForward Talks: Understanding first: why putting understanding before measurement matters

by Silva Ferretti

"Measure" often seems a first and foremost step to capture change. Biased by the well-known saying “if it cannot be measured it cannot be managed”, donors, project managers and Terms of Reference urge to measure, overlooking the need to understand first, which is at the heart of any evaluation. It is only upon understanding, making links, connecting and looking at the broader context that we can decide if and what it makes sense to measure, or if not to measure at all. This is also an underlying element of evaluating complexities.

In this session, Silva Feretti, free-lance evaluator, shared her experience and examples of why it’s important to “understand first”, what’s the risk of not conducting such assessment, and how she approached this challenge, followed by discussion and inputs by participants. 

The session took place on 26 March 14:00 to 15:15 Rome time / 13:00 to 14:15 GMT