Johanna Pennarz

Johanna Pennarz, Lead Evaluation Officer at the Independent Office of Evaluation of IFAD, leading evaluations of IFAD country strategies and programmes. In 2023, she led the corporate-level evaluation of knowledge management in IFAD.

The context for international organisations is changing in rapid, complex, and unpredictable ways. Development organisations are under pressure to adapt their business models to address the challenges resulting from reduced development funding and to meet the ambitions of the Agenda
2030.

Evaluation has an important role to play, facilitating learning loops and supporting transformative change. We have seen in our organisations an increasing appetite for knowledge products that systematise evidence and lessons from evaluations. Evaluations provide important lessons that can support organisational learning and systemic change. Furthermore, looking at both success and failure evaluations can help identify solutions that can work.

Transformative change requires evidence that is challenging common assumptions and beliefs. Evaluations draw their findings by interrogating the explicit and explicit assumptions about how development works. Evaluations contribute to an understanding of change processes by identifying the underlying forces and drivers of change.

The multidimensional nature of development requires holistic and multidisciplinary approaches to evaluation that are able to capture the complexities of transformative development. Evaluations dealing with complex processes and systems would involve diverse stakeholder groups and harness diverse knowledge systems. Stakeholder engagement provides multiple perspectives, concerns, and values on what works for whom and why.

Evaluation can thus provide a platform for stakeholder dialogue. Stakeholder interaction during the evaluation process not only enhances the quality and depth of analysis, but it also builds a shared understanding about the issues on hand. Evaluations using participatory and collaborative approaches
therefore actively support ownership and development of shared solutions.

One of the key challenges for evaluations is that they take place within a context of power relations and structures that are affecting the demand for and use of evaluation knowledge. Evaluations can promote accountability on issues that are inherently politically driven by being very transparent about the methodology, evidence, and process. Transparency also enables stakeholders to buy into the process and make evidence-based decisions.

My vision is that evaluation will become an effective agent of change by embracing principles of inclusive and equitable development and building on participatory and democratic principles. Learning and knowledge will become key functions of evaluation, in particular, by drawing evidence and insights from multiple stakeholders and contributing to a better understanding of how transformative change could work.

Keywords: evaluation; transformative change; stakeholder engagement; collaborative approaches; power relations