Conferences, The Third Sector as Civil Society in Australasia: Identity, Role and Influence in the New Century

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Critical reflection on Evaluation Capacity-Building (ECB) as a third sector organizational development strategy
Wendy Earles, Jo Baulderstone

Last modified: 2010-06-09

Abstract


There is an increasing demand for both internal and external evaluation of nonprofit provision as part of program funding and accountability. Two third sector researchers share critical reflections on the use of ECB in their respective and separate work as evaluators for a range of nonprofit organizations delivering the Communities for Children program. ECB is context-embedded work by an organization to bring about a state and culture of quality program evaluation as everyday practice. It uses a system of guided processes and practices and is intentional work that requires resources and will. The Communities for Children Program logic involves a nonprofit organization (called the facilitating partner) that is contracted by the Federal Government to provide capacity-building support and contract management for other nonprofit and state organizations (called community partners) that deliver early intervention and prevention services under relational contracts. There is a history of national and local evaluation within this program area and this culture has been extended voluntarily by organizations into the second three-year round of program funding. The researchers critical reflection involved examining underlying assumptions and positioning, exploring each other’s experiences, teasing out themes amongst the action, (re)integrating these in a search for deeper meaning, and co-developing principles and logics for ongoing action to support nonprofit organizational development through ECB methodologies.