Build gender-sensitive evaluative practice across your organization
- Aim.
Building gender-sensitive evaluative practice across an organization helps support evidence-based and accountable policy making decisions. Understanding approaches to strengthen gender-sensitive evaluative practice will support leaders to know where and how to make changes.
- Question.
What are some approaches I can use to strengthen gender-sensitive evaluative practice.
- Understand.
Within any organization there are barriers and enablers to building good evaluative practices, and gender-sensitive evaluation. However, building a strong evaluation culture helps strengthen broader policy process, deliver and demonstrate impact, and improve and innovate in cost-effective and strategic ways.
What are some approaches I can use to strengthen evaluative practice.
Monitoring, evaluation and learning systems rely on people, processes and systems to work together to ensure good flow of timely, accurate and reliable data and insights. Such a system can strengthen gender equality by,
- Supporting the transparency of policy design and implementation to ensure it includes a gender perspective
- Building the evidence base of what works for different populations within your economy,
- Using insights to support best practice gender analysis and improve organizational performance
Despite best intentions many organizations do not undertake evaluations of their policies.
Leaders can develop evaluative practice across their organization, including gender-sensitive practices, by understanding the barriers, opportunities, norms and stereotypes that exist within their organization that stops or improves evaluation. This information can be gathered through survey engagement or interviews with staff.
Leaders can then develop an appropriate strategy that influence positive behaviours.
For example,
Staff feel they lack opportunity to undertake evaluation.
Therefore, influencing opportunities to do evaluation will grow evaluative practice. This can include resourcing evaluations properly, simplifying processes, or prioritising evaluation during policy design.
Staff feel they lack the knowledge or skills to undertake evaluation.
Therefore, influencing capability will develop evaluative practice. This can include engaging staff in professional development to improve evaluation skills, building expertise through workshops and information sharing, and inviting presentations and guest speakers.
Staff lack the motivation or encouragement to undertake evaluation.
Therefore, influencing motivation will develop evaluative practice. This can include celebrating and recognising evaluative practice, providing incentives to undertake evaluation, dissuading poor practices, rewarding best practice.
