Exploring the Leadership Dimension of Developmental Evaluation: The Evaluator as a Servant-Leader

Abstract

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

Actioning the capacity of aroha through evaluative leadership

“…Interestingly, but probably not unsurprisingly due to the ongoing debate about the centrality of advocacy within evaluation practice, evaluation literature is almost silent on leadership in evaluation. Lam (2015) noted that there is very little explicit recognition of leadership across many of the evaluation theorists. This "gap" about where leadership is actioned and made visible within evaluation theory and practice was an additional impetus for its exploration on my own journey.…”

L’évaluation évolutive, de la théorie à la pratique : perspectives de praticiens québécois

“…Un membre du panel d' experts a insisté : « Il faut que la gouvernance ou la structure laisse une place à l' évaluateur pour qu'il puisse participer à l'idéation ou à la réflexion sur le projet. » Capacité à être un ami critique : les participants du panel d' experts s'accordent à dire que l'ÉÉ implique l'adoption par l' évaluateur d'une posture d'ami critique (Lam, 2015). Ce rôle a d'abord été décrit par Costa et Kallick (1993 ) avant d' être repris par d'autres auteurs dont Fetterman (2001 ), Cousins (2005 ), puis Patton (2011 ).…”