58 - Strategies to Promote Evaluation Uptake by Decision-Makers: How to Equip Non-Managerial Staff to Engage in Effective Evaluation Advocacy

Abstract Information: A key purpose of program evaluation is to generate useful data and evidence to inform decision-making. Indeed, the evaluation literature provides ample resources – including approaches, strategies, and case studies – on how to make evaluation findings useful to decision-makers. Collectively, they offer a wealth of experience and insights ranging from the macro (e.g., building organizational capacity and readiness to conduct evaluations in ways that will enhance their usefulness to decision-makers) to the micro (e.g., tailoring messages and products for decision-makers, creating post-evaluation action plans to facilitate use). However, adapting and applying even tried-and-true practices from the evaluation literature for a specific milieu or under a unique set of circumstances is not always straightforward. There are numerous factors that can facilitate or undermine the uptake of evaluation findings, especially in workplaces where the evaluation culture is still a work in progress. In a large and/or federated organization, for example, getting evaluation findings from the individuals most intimately involved in and knowledgeable of the evaluation to the ultimate decision-makers may be comparable to a complicated and sometimes opaque game of telephone. The process may require distilling and passing the information through multiple layers of management, potentially fraught with challenges (inattention, misgivings, resistance, etc.) and costing precious time. To be successful, an organizational champion is often essential to advocate for the evaluation results, and such a champion may be absent. Or perhaps the decision-makers receive the evaluation findings in a timely manner and show genuine interest in the data and evidence presented – only to neglect or devalue them in favor of other sources of information (if any!) when they should matter the most. External factors, such as the broader policy and political environment, may hinder uptake of evaluation findings even when they might be critical to future program improvements. In this session, the authors will present several scenarios, loosely based on examples from their consultative work (advising peers on evaluation design and conduct or serving on evaluation advisory committees), to explore how non-managerial staff can more effectively use evaluation findings to inform or influence decision-makers, taking into account both internal organizational and external environmental factors. Although this session is organized by a U.S. federal agency, the discussion should be relevant to both governmental and non-governmental organizations, in the U.S. and elsewhere, that are facing similar challenges in increasing and improving evaluation uptake.