3.7 Connecting Regionally and Internationally

This section provides some information on how to connect regionally and internationally with other evaluators and evaluations organisations. 

Even if a VOPE operates in only one country or sub-region of a country, it is still important that it connects regionally and internationally with other VOPEs because this provides opportunities for shared learning, mobilization of resources and more effective use of resources. The International Organization for Cooperation in Evaluation (IOCE) publishes information on international, national and regional VOPEs which could help a VOPE to find other evaluation associations in its area. 

A VOPE can network and collaborate with other VOPEs in many different ways, for example;

•  Cross-publicise events and opportunities among members. It is possible that news from one VOPE may be relevant also to members of another VOPE, for example in the case of an organization seeking to appoint an evaluator for a multi-country evaluation, or if an online training session on a specific evaluation topic is planned.
• Host Joint Events
• The Canadian Evaluation Society and the American Evaluation Association hosted a second joint conference in 2005 with the theme “Crossing Borders, Crossing Boundaries”. See: http://c2005.evaluationcanada.ca/index.cgi?s=1&ss=4&_lang=en
• Regional VOPEs like ReLAC (Latin America and Caribbean), the African Evaluation Association and the European Evaluation Association host their conferences in one of the countries in which a national evaluation association is emerging or already exists, leading to a strengthening of both the regional and the national organizations.

•  A VOPE may invite delegates from other VOPEs to its evaluation conference, with a view to sharing the learning. In some instances, it may even be possible to secure funding for bursaries from a development partner to subsidize the travel.
•  Two or more VOPEs may collaborate on producing a joint publication – The African Evaluation Association and the South African Monitoring and Evaluation Association, for example, collaborated on launching the African Evaluation Journal http://www.aejonline.org/index.php/aej
• Share and exchange resources and know-how on joint topics of interest such as website development or developing a constitution. This may be done informally or through a funded mechanism, such as the EvalPartners peer-to-peer grants.
•  Consider making joint membership available if members of one organization are likely to benefit from / work in the area also covered by the other VOPE. An example is joint membership of the American Evaluation Association and the Canadian Evaluation Society. http://www.eval.org/p/cm/ld/fid=15

A list of organisations that a VOPE might consider connecting with or joining is:

IOCE (http://www.ioce.net/en/)

• The International Organization for Cooperation in Evaluation (IOCE) is an international partnership of national and regional evaluation associations that provides leadership in evaluation worldwide by encouraging demand for evaluation, and supporting organizational capacity for evaluation associations.
• The IOCE facilitates sharing ideas across the global evaluation community, promotes good governance of evaluation associations, and champions the recognition of the value and contributions of evaluation to improve the lives of people.
• We provide a platform for worldwide cooperation and partnership in evaluation, fostering the exchange of ideas, high professional standards and an open and global perspective among evaluators.

The IOCE (Source: http://ioce.net/members/why_join.php) urge associations to join them as follows:

 Evalpartners (http://www.mymande.org/evalpartners)

“There [BD1] is tremendous scope for exchanges of home-grown and country-driven solutions, ideas and experience to support capacity development in evaluation. In this context, EvalPartners aims to strengthen the evaluation capacities of CSOs through triangular cooperation and peer to peer support and mutual learning, and by taking advantage of new ICT technology to facilitate networking and learning.“

(Source: http://www.mymande.org/evalpartners/strengthen-civil-society)

 American Evaluation Association (AEA) www.eval.org

“The American Evaluation Association is an international professional association of evaluators devoted to the application and exploration of program evaluation, personnel evaluation, technology, and many other forms of evaluation. Evaluation involves assessing the strengths and weaknesses of programs, policies, personnel, products, and organizations to improve their effectiveness. AEA has approximately 7700 members representing all 50 states in the United States as well as over 60 foreign countries.” (Source: ABOUT AEA http://www.eval.org/p/cm/ld/fid=4)

“Networking and Community:
Membership includes participation in up to five of AEA’s 40+ Topical Interest Groups, each one a professional community of colleagues with similar interests and professional foci. Members also receive regular newsletters and electronic updates regarding the latest happenings in the field and the Association, and a listing in and access to the AEA Online Membership Directory, a key resource for networking among colleagues.“ (Source: AEA, Benefits of AEA membership, http://www.eval.org/p/cm/ld/fid=9)

 AfrEA (www.afrea.org)

“African Evaluation Association (AfrEA) is a non-profit umbrella organisation of national monitoring and evaluation associations and networks operating in Africa, as well as a leading source of quality evaluation methodologies essential for individual evaluators in countries where bodies do not exist.  (Source: www.afrea.org)”

Australasian Evaluation Society (AES)(www.aes.asn.au)

“The Australasian Evaluation Society (AES) is a member based organisation which exists to improve the theory, practice and use of evaluation in Australasia for people involved in evaluation including evaluation practitioners, managers, teachers and students of evaluation, and other interested individuals.” (Source: http://www.aes.asn.au/about-us/about-the-aes.html)

Asian- Pacific Evaluation Association (APEA) (http://www.mes.org.my/apea/)

“The Asia Pacific Evaluation Association (APEA) has been successfully launched on the 14th of September 2012, during the last day of the Malaysian Evaluation Society (MES) Conference. APEA is a membership organization for national, thematic and sectorial evaluation associations/networks and groups in Asia.

APEA is as such not a membership organization of individual members, but one of its aims is assisting individuals in their development of national, thematic and sectorial evaluation associations/networks and groups in their specific region, sector or thematic work area.”  (Source: About us http://www.mes.org.my/apea/index.php/aboutus)

Middle East and North Africa Evaluation Network (EVALMENA) (https://dgroups.org/dgroups/evalmenanet)

“EvalMenaNet is an informal network of stakeholders concerned by monitoring & evaluation in development work in the Middle East and North Afica (MENA) region. It aims at promoting and strengthening the M&E culture and practice in the region at all levels.” (Source: https://dgroups.org/dgroups/evalmenanet)