Engaging Stakeholders in Evaluation Planning for DEI Professional Development Programs: A Path to Meaningful Impact

Abstract Information: How do you build authentic partnerships throughout the evaluation process? Empowering many voices in the evaluation planning process requires engagement with program leaders at the very beginning. In today's evolving landscape of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives, the need for robust evaluation frameworks is paramount to ensure meaningful outcomes and sustainable progress. This presentation will provide several engagement strategies that evaluators can use to collaborate and partner with non-evaluators in the evaluation planning process. Having community members engage with, participate in, guide, design, and provide feedback on an evaluation will improve the quality of the evaluation and the utility and use of the findings. We will walk through our own example of designing an evaluation plan for a DEI professional development program for DEI practitioners. We draw on participatory evaluation approaches to guide our strategies. Through collaborative survey design and data review sessions, we utilized a developmental evaluation model to continuously collect and review data to inform ongoing pilot DEI professional development intervention. After attending this session, attendees will walk away with several strategies to elevate their participatory evaluation practices.