Abstract
Systems transformation is the clarion call of our time. This is not a time for business as usual. Evaluation must be transformed to assess and guide the major systems transformations needed in health, climate, food, and social justice. Five fundamental transformations are needed: from project thinking to systems thinking; from theory of change to theory of transformation; from simple linear approaches to complexity understandings; from siloed thinking about SDGs to cross-silos integration of SDGs; and from evaluator independence and neutrality to acknowledging interdependence and having skin-in-the game. Beyond methodological and technical developments, evaluating transformation must be ethically grounded by incorporating the criteria of equity and sustainability. The greatest danger for evaluators in times of turbulence, like the pandemic and climate change, is not the turbulence itself, but to act within yesterday’s paradigm without adapting evaluation to the challenges of a changed and ever-changing world.
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Patton, M.Q. (2023). Evaluating Transformation Means Transforming Evaluation. In: Edmondson, B. (eds) Sustainability Transformations, Social Transitions and Environmental Accountabilities. Palgrave Studies in Environmental Transformation, Transition and Accountability. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-18268-6_2
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