“All things are difficult before they are easy.”*

Changing individual practice, let alone group and organizational behavior, can feel like a rugged, unending, upward climb. When I first began learning about the EEF through my participation in Equal Measure’s Equitable Evaluation Learning Circle, I perceived the approach as a brand new body of knowledge. As I learned more about it, I realized that its key principles are intended to be simple and easily understood, and that there are intersecting approaches—including culturally responsive evaluation, participatory evaluation, and utilization-focused evaluation. I was already familiar with these other approaches, so prior knowledge supported my learning process.

“Don’t overthink it.” Deepening the practice of the EEF initially felt difficult, but it is getting easier over time. One way I have begun internalizing this approach to evaluation is to frequently circle back to this statement offered by Jara Dean-Coffey: “As evaluation practitioners move forward, we can evolve and expand what we mean by value (axiology) to one that centers human and civil rights, we can recognize that knowledge is a social construct (epistemology), and we can honor multiple realities (ontology), not all of which are of equal importance.” At the deepest level, the EEF is about shifting our mental models. This is the hardest part, and may take the longest to achieve, but the baby step is acknowledging that our default thinking might be counterproductive to advancing equity.

A collaborative approach

Using a collaborative approach is true to Equal Measure’s culture, and is the approach through which we’ll ensure these principles show up in our work in deeper ways.

Equal Measure culture is about teamwork through projects and through organizational improvement efforts. We enjoy wrestling with project and organizational issues (a lot!). This has translated to our learning circle.

Eight of us come together on a bi-monthly basis to learn about the practice of equitable evaluation and to discuss its themes in our work across projects and in our organization.

In the beginning, we shared our individual learning goals and agreed on ground rules and expectations for the group. More recently, we discussed how well we operationalized our commitment to advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion through a close look at two past proposals.

These are slow, enjoyable conversations. A collaborative approach is aligned with EEF principles—by taking into account the perspectives of all participants, we forge group ownership of our work together. The slow-down resulting from a collaborative approach, rather than an individual or elite group leading the way, pushes against characteristics of white supremacy culture, including sense of urgency and power hoarding, among others.

We are still figuring out how to make it easier

Members of our learning circle have taken time for individual and collective sensemaking. These reflections have not necessarily led to convergence or consensus on how to proceed.

After coming together as a group in the learning circle, and laying some groundwork with individual reflections on our biases and identities as evaluators, we began to focus outwardly on what our learning means for our projects and the organization. Now we’re dealing with a tension around the level or depth of our individual as well as group exploration of the EEF. When and how will we know that we have truly internalized its principles?

With that question, we balance the demand to produce “something” tangible for our group and for the organization. One step forward we have taken is to re-assess what we individually want to gain from our learning circle participation, and how these perspectives can inform a shared vision. We will then work together to identify our path forward.

In the meantime, I believe that my heightened attention to the practice of EEF is showing up in my conversations beyond the learning circle, which gives me confidence that my learning experience is on track.

*Thomas Fuller

Reader questions/engagement

There’s no one right way to adopt the practice of the Equitable Evaluation Framework™. What’s one way that you integrate this practice into your work?