Paper short abstract:

How my relationship with evaluation reports transformed over the years. Initially, there was a lot to catch up on: Log frame, theory of change etc. which shaped these efforts. I now look at these assignments as an opportunity for my interlocutors to voice their problems.

Paper long abstract:

The paper will discuss how over the years as an occasional development project reviewer I have evolved as an evaluator and how it changed my relation with the task. My early forays into project evaluation were quite by chance; as a young lecturer, I was part of a group evaluation team of seasoned people in the development field. As a new entrant in the field, there was a lot to catch up on: Log frame, theory of change etc. My earlier efforts were often shaped by these tools and often not in my choosing. However, the more I started to work on these projects, I soon found myself having a changed relation to these tools and the very nature of my task. I increasingly began to think of these evaluation reports as opportunities for my interlocutors (often the project participants) to voice their problems. Lately, I have realized that as an evaluator, a term not to my liking, the role is not about policing the organization but talking about it and its work with some kind of caring vigilance. By emphasizing what the interlocutors think about the project and its achievement, I can talk not only about the "achievement" (for which the organization under review and its staff can often have some pressure) but also about where it fails and what can be done in the future in terms of approach. A futuristic outlook often makes this evaluation report writing experience interesting and worthwhile experience.