Narrative review of strategies by organizations for building evaluation capacity.
Program evaluation is an important source of information to assist organizations to make "evidence-informed" decisions about program planning and development. The objectives of this study were to identify evaluated strategies used by organizations and program developers to build the program evaluation capacity of their workforce, and to describe success factors and lessons learned. Common elements for successful evaluation capacity building (ECB) include: a tailored strategy based on needs assessment, an organizational commitment to evaluation and ECB, experiential learning, training with a practical element, and some form of ongoing technical support within the workplace. ECB is a relatively new field of endeavor, and, while existing studies in ECB are characterized by lower levels of evidence, they suggest the most successful approaches to ECB are likely to be multifaceted. To build the level of evidence in this field, more rigorous study designs need to be implemented in the future.
Western Sydney Public Health Unit, New South Wales Health, 5 Fleet Street, North Parramatta, New South Wales, 2151, Australia. Electronic address: sophie.norton@health.nsw.gov.au.
Sophie
S
Norton
Evidence and Evaluation Unit, Centre for Epidemiology and Evidence, New South Wales Ministry of Health, 73, Miller Street, North Sydney, New South Wales, 2059, Australia; Adjunct Associate Professor, Sydney Medical School, University of Sydney, New South Wales, 2006, Australia. Electronic address: amila@doh.health.nsw.gov.au.
Andrew
A
Milat
Evidence and Evaluation Unit, Centre for Epidemiology and Evidence, New South Wales Ministry of Health, 73, Miller Street, North Sydney, New South Wales, 2059, Australia. Electronic address: baedw@doh.health.nsw.gov.au.
Barry
B
Edwards
Evidence and Evaluation Unit, Centre for Epidemiology and Evidence, New South Wales Ministry of Health, 73, Miller Street, North Sydney, New South Wales, 2059, Australia. Electronic address: mgiff@doh.health.nsw.gov.au.
Michael
M
Giffin
D057191:Capacity Building / Q000458:organization & administration*; D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D006801:Humans; D007318:Inservice Training / Q000458:organization & administration; D016730:Program Development / Q000379:methods*; D015397:Program Evaluation / Q000379:methods*; D017132:Workplace / Q000458:organization & administration*
Capacity building; Evaluation; Evidence-based practice; Program evaluation; Program planning