Evaluation Professional Organizations

From EvaluationWiki

Evaluation Professional Organizations are those organizations that provide services to organizations and individuals interested in the subject of evaluation; as opposed to for-profit professional organizations that provide evaluation services. Typically Evaluation Professional Organizations are non-profit organizations dedicated to helping other evaluators to network and share information about the subject of evaluation.

Below is a list of such organizations:

1 American Evaluation Association
2 Canadian Evaluation Society
3 International Organization for Cooperation in Evaluation
4 Michigan Association for Evaluation
5 Northwest Evaluation Association
6 Australasian Evaluation Society
7 European Evaluation Society
8 External Links

American Evaluation Association

The American Evaluation Association (AEA) is an international professional association of evaluators devoted to the application and exploration of program evaluation, personnel evaluation, technology, and many other forms of evaluation. Evaluation involves assessing the strengths and weaknesses of programs, policies, personnel, products, and organizations to improve their effectiveness. AEA has approximately 4000 members representing all 50 states in the US as well as over 60 foreign countries.

Mission

The American Evaluation Association's mission is to:

Improve evaluation practices and methods
Increase evaluation use
Promote evaluation as a profession and
Support the contribution of evaluation to the generation of theory and knowledge about effective human action.

Canadian Evaluation Society

The Canadian Evaluation Society (CEA) has a website with information on the mission, goals and principles of the organization, and guidelines for ethical conduct for evaluators. There is also information on upcoming conferences and contact information for local chapters of the organization.

International Organization for Cooperation in Evaluation

IOCE [1]is a loose alliance of regional and national evaluation organisations (associations, societies and networks) from around the world that collaborate to: • build evaluation leadership and capacity in developing countries, • foster the cross-fertilisation of evaluation theory and practice around the world, • address international challenges in evaluation, and • assist the evaluation profession to take a more global approach to contributing to the identification and solution of world problems.

A list of IOCE Member Organizations [2],

A list of Regional or International Evaluation Organizations [3],

A list of National evaluation organizations [4]

Michigan Association for Evaluation

The Michigan Association for Evaluation (MAE)is a voluntary organization devoted to educating the public about the science and use of evaluation.

MAE exists to promote evaluation in the State of Michigan. They convene the evaluation community (including evaluators, funders, and program users) to focus on how evaluation should be conducted and used. They strive to:

Promote the implementation of state-of-the-art evaluation
Build competencies of the evaluation community
Promote the use of evaluation to improve policies and programs
Cultivate evaluative thinking

Northwest Evaluation Association

The Northwest Evaluation Association is assessment, training, and consulting services in the area of education. They work directly with school districts and other education-related organizations throughout the United States.

Australasian Evaluation Society

The Australasian Evaluation Society (AES)[5] is the primary professional organisation in Australasia for people involved in evaluation including evaluation practitioners, managers, teachers and students of evaluation, and other interested individuals. It has almost 1000 members involved in all aspects of evaluation and performance measurement. Members meet regularly through Regional Groups centred in major cities in Australia and New Zealand. Professional development workshops are conducted throughout Australasia on a regular basis.

The Society aims to improve the theory, practice and use of evaluation through:

   * establishing and promoting ethics and standards in evaluation practice as a service to the community of evaluators and users of evaluations;
   * encouraging advances in the theory and practice of evaluation by publishing such advances and by recognising outstanding contributions;
   * providing education and training in matters related to evaluation;
   * providing forums for networking and the discussion of ideas including society publications, seminars, workshops and conferences;
   * acting as an advocate for evaluation and encouraging understanding about the use and application of evaluation;
   * linking members who have similar evaluation interests; and
   * other activities consistent with this aim.

European Evaluation Society

The primary goal of the European Evaluation Society [6] is to promote theory, practice and utilization of high quality evaluation especially, but not exclusively, within the European countries. This goal is obtained by bringing together academics and practitioners from all over Europe and from any professional sector, thus creating a forum where all participants can benefit from the co-operation and bridge building. The society was founded in the Hague in 1994. The first official board was elected in autumn 1995 and started its work in January 1996.