Panel at the American Evaluation Association's annual conference in Washington, D.C. October 19, 2013 by Johanna Morariu (Innovation Network), Jara Dean-Coffey (jdcPartnerships), Tom Kelly (Hawai`i Community Foundation), Claire Hutchings (Oxfam Great Britain), David Devlin-Foltz (The Aspen Institute), Robin Kane (RK Evaluation & Strategies LLC), Jared Raynor (TCC Group), and Anne Gienapp (Organizational Research Services) Advocacy and policy change evaluation continues to evolve and mature--from a fledgling field a few years ago to the flourishing field of today. Evaluators are advancing as well, developing an increasingly robust collective understanding about what works for advocacy evaluation. In this session a diverse group of seven advocacy evaluators explored and synthesized observations drawn from an array of real-world experiences. Panelists spoke to targeted questions, weaving in their wealth of experience and examples. The conversation began with this question: "What have you learned from your advocacy evaluation experience?" From there, panelists delved into the range of cases they represent. The session identified commonalities among these cases as well as contradictions/inconsistencies to move toward a field-level understanding. Presenters also used graphic recording methods to organize and report out on session themes.

1. Seeing the Forest
Beyond the Trees
Learning Across
the Experiences of
Seven Advocacy Evaluators
Jared Raynor, TCC Group
Anne Gienapp, ORS Impact
Claire Hutchings, Oxfam Great Britain
Johanna Morariu, Innovation Network
David Devlin-Foltz, The Aspen Institute
Tom Kelly, Hawai`i Community Foundation
Robin Kane, RK Evaluation & Strategies LLC
Chair: Jara Dean-Coffey, jdcPartnerships
Evaluation 2013 | American Evaluation Association | October 19, 2013 | Washington, D.C.

2. “Talk Show”
session
moderated by
Jara Dean-Coffey
With visual
Recording by
Katherine
Athanasiades
Photo credits: @InnoNet_Eval pic.twitter.com/fJJ3dHHF0k; @RefocusInstitut pic.twitter.com/xhRGEdjjhb

3. Being “ready” is something
needed for any evaluation.
Q:
What are the most
important things you
learned about purpose/
readiness for engaging
in advocacy evaluation?

4. There are a number of
unique methods that have
emerged to support
advocacy evaluation.
Q:
What has proven to be
the most effective
methodology in
your work?

5. Questions of rigor and level
of evidence are often asked
about advocacy evaluation.
A related concept is
contribution and attribution
of wins.
Q:
How did you handle this?
What has worked?

6. Completed Visual Recording
Photo credits: @InnoNet_Eval pic.twitter.com/x9y5mYvxAm

7. Completed Visual Recording
Photo credits: @rkaneDC pic.twitter.com/hpK7NLrqc7

8. Seeing the Forest
Beyond the Trees
Jared Raynor,TCC Group
jraynor@tccgrp.com
David Devlin-Foltz, The Aspen Institute
david.devlin-foltz@aspeninst.org
Anne Gienapp, ORS Impact
agienapp@orsimpact.com
Tom Kelly, Hawai`i Community Foundation
tkelly@hcf-hawaii.org
Claire Hutchings, Oxfam Great Britain Robin Kane, RK Evaluation & Strategies LLC
CHutchings@Oxfam.org.uk
Robin@rkevaluation.com
Johanna Morariu, Innovation Network Chair: Jara Dean-Coffey, jdcPartnerships
jmorariu@innonet.org
jara@jdcpartnerships.com
Visual Recorder: Kat Athanasiades, Innovation
Network, kathanasiades@innonet.org