The international development community has recognized the need for transformative change in order to make progress towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). Evaluators have a role to play in advocating for the use of a transformative lens for their work in support of programs designed to address the SDGs. In this presentation, a framework for transformative evaluation will be presented that is inclusive of the need to build relationships and conduct a contextual analysis as strategies to increase the cultural responsiveness of the evaluations. Examples of the application of this approach will also be discussed.
Donna Mertens is Professor Emeritus, Gallaudet University, specializing in research and evaluation methodologies designed to support social, economic, and environmental transformation. Her many books on research and evaluation methods and human rights include Mixed Methods Design in Evaluation; Indigenous Pathways into Social Research, Program Evaluation Theory and Practice, Research and Evaluation in Education and Psychology, and Transformative Research and Evaluation. She is a past President of AEA and a founding Board member of International Organization for Cooperation in Evaluation, as well as the Mixed Methods International Research Association.
