Short Abstract

What does it take for an evaluation to make a real difference? This session follows a UNICEF Kosovo evaluation from design and implementation to its influence on organizational decisions and policy dialogue. Through a process of co-learning with UNICEF, the lead evaluator reflects on the full journey — including how the findings were disseminated and translated into action.

Description

This session examines how a UNICEF Kosovo evaluation moved from design and development through to dissemination and use. The evaluation — Programmatic Strategies for Leaving No One Behind: Municipality Approach (completed August 2024) — serves as a case study for exploring how evaluation findings are diffused and acted upon within an organisation.

The session is presented by the Team Lead consultant, drawing on insights gained through a period of co-learning with the UNICEF Kosovo Evaluation Manager. It traces the full evaluation journey, with particular attention to areas often unseen by evaluators - how evaluation findings travelled through people, processes, and structures, and how they were taken up, interpreted, and applied.

The presentation is organised by four key areas:

Designing for Use

The first part focuses on how the evaluation was designed with intended users and uses in mind, drawing on Utilization-Focused Evaluation (Patton). A visual timeline illustrates key junctures in the process — including early identification of primary intended users, iterative feedback, and strategies to build ownership — showing how design choices were made to optimise the potential for uptake.

Pathways of Dissemination

The second part examines what happened after the report was completed — a process largely unseen by the evaluator. It traces the pathways through which findings and recommendations were shared, who received them, through what channels, and in what form — drawing on the Evaluation Influence Framework (Mark, Henry & Julnes).

Tangible Influence

The third part explores where and how the evaluation's findings and recommendations made a difference — looking at concrete instances of use within UNICEF Kosovo, with particular attention to (i) collaborative and multisectoral planning and (ii) integrating equity and 'leaving no one behind' within programming.

Facilitators and Hindrances

The final part reflects on what enabled or obstructed the uptake of findings, drawing out lessons for evaluators, commissioners, and evaluation managers. It also asks the question of what might have happened without this evaluation?

Throughout, the session embodies co-learning between those who develop evaluations and those who use them