Efforts at making evaluation culturally relevant have become central to evaluation discourses globally. However, global attempts at culturally responsive practice have not succeeded in incorporating African voices. This article discusses African perspectives on decolonization and indigenization of evaluation. It further provides a description of an African relational evaluation paradigm as a basis for originating evaluation practices and theories rooted in African world views, and provides examples of evaluation studies that illustrate relational evaluation approaches. It makes claims for an African evaluation tree metaphor that features approaches to evaluation in Africa by African theorists.

The article engages with debates on democratizing and decolonizing research to promote multi-epistemological research partnerships that revolutionize the research methods landscape, bringing new paradigms onto the map to advance new research methods that engage and transform communities. The argument in the article is that people of all worlds irrespective of geographic location, colour, race, ability, gender or socioeconomic status should have equal rights in the research scholarship and research process to name their world views, apply them to define themselves and be heard. An African-based relational paradigm that informs a postcolonial research methodological framework within which indigenous and non-indigenous researchers can fit their research is presented. The article further illustrates how an African relational ontological assumption can inform a complimentary technique of gathering biographical data on the participants and how African relational epistemologies can inform partnership of knowledge systems. The use of proverbs and songs as indigenous literature and community voices that researchers can use to deconstruct stereotypes and deficit theorizing and communityconstructed ideologies of dominance is illustrated.

This issue of the Canadian Journal of Program Evaluation (CJPE) is one of our most comprehensive to date. Not only does it include five full articles, fi ve practice notes, and two book reviews, but it also covers a wide range of evaluation-related topics, practices, and studies. I am pleased to note that our editorial team contin ues to receive high-quality submissions, and I encourage you to keep thinking of the CJPE as an outlet for your work. The articles and practice notes included in this issue focus on four recurring themes that reflect current topics in our field. First, evaluative thinking and capac ity building in non-governmental organizations is the subject of articles by Rog ers, Kelly, and McCoy, as well as by Lu, Elliot, and Perlman. Both articles provide insights into the facilitators of, and barriers to, evaluation capacity building as well as the multiple roles played by evaluators in fostering evaluative thinking amongst organizational staff members. Second, process evaluation appears to be of interest to many evaluators and researchers: Leblanc, Gervais, Dubeau and Delame focus on process evaluation for mental health initiatives, while Parrott and Carman pro vide an example of how process evaluation can contribute to program scaling-up efforts. Chechak, Dunlop, and Holosko also focus on process evaluation and its utility in evaluating youth drop-in programs. Teachers and students of evaluation may be interested in our third theme, which focuses on student contributions to evaluation, both through peer-mentoring-as described in the practice note written by LaChenaye, Boyce, Van Draanen, and Everett-and through the CES Student Evaluation Case Competition-described in a practice note written by Sheppard, Baker, Lolic, Soni, and Courtney. And fourth, we continue to advance our methodological approaches to evaluation, and this is reflected in an article on evaluation in Indigenous contexts by Chandna, Vine, Snelling, Harris, Smylie, and Manson, as well as in an article on the use of an outcome monitoring tool for performance measurement in a clinical psychology setting by Rosval, Yamin, Jamshidi, and Aubry. Czechowski, Sylvestre, and Moreau also feature methods in their practice note on secure data handling for evaluators, a key competency that continues to evolve as our data collection and storage mechanisms adapt to new technology. In addition to these articles and practice notes, this issue also features two book reviews that are sure to interest our readers. First, Bhawra provides an account of

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This chapter explores the meaning of decolonization and indigenization and the importance of these terms in conceptualizing research and evaluation in formerly colonized nations. We provide an exploration of ways in which efforts to “Africanize” the theory and practice of evaluation can be translated into widespread practice. In doing so, the rationale for an African‐rooted and African‐driven evaluation is discussed. We describe four evaluation conceptual frameworks: the least indigenized, integrative, predominantly Indigenous, and third space evaluation methodology. At the heart of these conceptual frameworks is the Indigenous knowledge systems that must be restored, protected, revitalized, and afforded justice. Our argument is that philosophical assumptions specific to African cultures and histories should inform evaluation theory and practice. The emerging evaluation practices will then emanate from the cultures and values of the African peoples.