AES E-news Archive

2005
Issue 1 - April
Issue 2 - September
Issue 3 - December

2006
Issue1 - April
Issue2 - August

AES Board and Committee Reports

President’s Report

I have been on sabbatical since early October and took the opportunity to attend both the American Evaluation Association conference in Portland Oregon and the combined UK and European Evaluation Society conference in London.  The AEA conference is a mega event with over 3000 delegates and 500 sessions.  On the other hand, the UK/EES conference is much smaller (about 700 delegates) and has more of the atmosphere of the AES conferences. There was a strong AES presence at both conferences and considerable interest in what is happening in Australia and New Zealand, particularly the new edition of John Owen’s book.  Of particular note, both conferences had excellent keynote addresses and panel discussions.  The panel discussions were well attended and might play a positive role in future AES conferences (e.g. they offer a good alternative when individual papers are very similar, or, as an option when papers are not accepted for individual presentations).

The UK/EES conference was particularly interesting because of the strong international flavour.  There were delegates from more than 40 countries - many outside the EU.  It was both intriguing and educational to hear about the different issues and viewpoints in the various countries, particularly the difficulties evaluators are facing in the old eastern bloc countries where evaluation is still in its infancy and viewed suspiciously by some governments.   The move to establish a rigorous monitoring and evaluation culture and capacity in South Africa, strongly influenced by Patricia Rogers, is also fascinating to watch.  The evaluation societies within the EU, and elsewhere, are dealing with many of the same issues we are, including ethics, government influence over evaluation methodology, and evaluating complex policies and strategies.  I am sure we can learn from their experiences.  I encourage any member with an interest in broadening their perspectives on evaluation to attend one of these, or any other evaluation society conference, whenever possible.

It was also interesting to talk with the presidents of a number of societies and exchange ideas about how their organisations operate.  The AES is hoping to establish benchmarking arrangements with several evaluation societies and positive responses were received from the Canadian and European societies.  This combined with benchmarking with similar Australasian societies in other disciplines (e.g. the Higher Education Research and Development Society of Australasia and the Australian and New Zealand Society for Criminology) will provide us with valuable information about new ways to operate and allow us to measure our performance against similar societies.  The first step in this benchmarking process will be to provide comparative information to the review of the Board discussed (below) in this issue of E-news.

A quick note in closing to thank all the members who worked on and attended the Darwin conference, especially Jenny Young and her committee; Judy Pearce, the AES Administrator; and the support of AusAID and NZAID.  It was a splendid success in every way and demonstrates the Society’s ability to hold high quality conferences, including in distant locations.  Thanks also to Jenny Neale, the Vice-President, for the excellent effort she put in to get the much needed constitutional changes approved at the AGM, and to Ian Trotman, one of our Fellows, for his invaluable support. Finally, on behalf of the AES Board, we hope you have a very pleasant and relaxing holiday break and we look forward to working with you in 2007.

Dr Rick Cummings - AES President

Review of AES Board

The Board has been reviewing a number of governance and management issues over the past few years.  In 2006, two long standing issues were resolved when the Society confirmed its legal structure as a not-for-profit incorporated association and self-assessed its tax exempt status as a scientific association.  In addition, the Society up-dated and clarified a number of uncertainties in the constitution.  Given the Society has become a more complex entity in the past 5-10 years, the membership agreed at the AGM in September to conduct a review of the Board’s governance arrangements including size, composition, functions and management processes of the Board and the Executive.  The Board agreed at its November meeting to a proposal for conducting the review using on external reviewer and allocated up to $22,000 for this project. The Board appointed a steering committee to oversee the review comprising Rick Cummings (President), Anne Markiewicz (Secretary), Diana Beere (Qld Regional Representative), and Colin Sharp (AES Fellow and past President with expertise in management of not-for-profit organizations).

The review will solicit the views of members, identify governance structures and processes in similar societies, examine the Society’s current governance processes in light of industry standards, and present options for improvement where appropriate.  A request for tenders will be circulated to a selection of suitably qualified consultants in the next week or so, and the successful tenderer will be appointed in early February.  The review is expected to start in February and conclude by June, in time to put any recommended changes to the AGM in September.

If you have any questions about the review please contact one of the Steering Committee members, whose email addresses are available on the ‘About AES’ page on the Society’s website, except Colin’s which is PERSONAL.research@bigpond.com.

Dr Rick Cummings - AES President

AES 2006 Awards

The AES International Awards Committee was convened by Professor Peter Bycroft (Chair), Associate Professor Paul Chesterton, Prue Oxley and Dr Zita Unger. In 2006 three awards were given, (with a drum role) the winners are:

The Evaluation Training and Service Award
This award is presented to an AES member in recognition of an outstanding contribution to evaluation. The 2006 award goes to Associate Professor Rosalind Hurworth. Dr Hurworth has a long history of research and commitment to the profession of evaluation.  She has an extensive record of peer reviewed, refereed publications and has had consistent and continuous involvement in the profession of evaluation, commencing in the early 1980’s and continuing through to today and her current position as Director of the Centre for Program Evaluation (CPE) at the University of Melbourne.

The Evaluation Study Award
This is awarded to an individual or team which has conducted an evaluation study that has made, or has the potential to make, a significant contribution to the practice or use of evaluation in either the public or private sector in Australasia. The 2006 award goes to
Virginia Lum Mow, NSW Department of Education and Training for ‘Evaluation of the 2003 Technology Retraining Program for Computing Studies, Food Technology & Industrial Arts’.

Evaluation Development Award
This is awarded to an individual or team which has provided leadership or innovation with respect to the practice or use of evaluation in either the public or private sector. The award for 2006 goes to Dr Jessica Dart and Dr Rick Davies for ‘The Most Significant Change Technique’ (MSCT).

AES Awards 2007
In 2007 the AES introduces a new award - ‘The Indigenous Evaluation Achievement Award’. The aim of this Award is to recognise policy, project or program evaluations where the evaluation demonstrates sensitivity, professionalism, excellence and achievement in involving indigenous communities, addressing indigenous issues or with a significant benefit to indigenous policy development and/or the development of evaluation modelling, methods or techniques with a focus on the needs and perspectives of indigenous communities or the indigenous sector.

Nomination forms for the 2007 Australasian evaluation ‘Oscars’, the AES Awards, will be available early in 2007 from http://www.aes.asn.au/awards/ . Nominations will be due 30 June 2007.

Adapted from the 2006 International Awards Committee Report by Professor Peter Bycroft – Awards Chair

2006 Wellington Evaluation Group Poster Competition
This year the Wellington Evaluation Group offered a one-off scholarship for a Wellington postgraduate student whose research is in the area of evaluation, to attend and present a poster at the AES conference in Darwin. The winner was Jenny Wilton, who presented a poster on an evaluation of the National Heart Foundation’s ‘Pick a Tick’ programme – a population-level guide to healthier food choices. A picture of Jenny Wilton and her fabulous poster can be found at http://www.aes.asn.au/regions/ (click on the Wellington link).

Call for Nominations for 2007 Fellows

The Fellows Committee chaired by Sue Funnell and consisting of Fellows Ian Trotman and Colin Sharp and AES Board representatives Peter Bycroft and Dave Roberts will be calling for nominations for 2007 Fellows in February from those eligible to submit names:

• Current Board Members (regional representatives are encouraged to seek nominations from the wider membership)
• Past Executive Committee Members
• Fellows.

The appointment of Fellows honours long standing AES members who have made special contributions to Evaluation and the Society and who are prepared to continue to contribute in a variety of ways. It is therefore to the mutual benefit of those who are appointed and the AES. Please start thinking about possible nominees, taking into consideration the Fellows Policy which appears on the AES website (http://www.aes.asn.au/about/ and click on Fellows). Closer to the time a formal invitation to submit nominations will be sent.

In addition to their ongoing roles, the Fellows are undertaking two Board approved projects in 2006-07: one project is to develop a policy on the criteria and processes by which submissions for conference papers and sessions are assessed and screened, by reviewing past practices of the AES and other related organisations. The other project is to identify, compile and cross reference policies, guidelines and important working documents of the AES to assist with corporate memory.

Sue Funnell – AES Fellow

AES 2006 Darwin Conference

AES International Conference - Darwin
Evaluation in Emerging Areas
September 4-7, 2006

Congratulations to the Darwin Conference Committee for holding a highly successful AES conference. The Conference Convenor, Jenny Young, reports that the Darwin Committee were very happy with how the conference went, the quality of the keynote speakers and were extremely pleased with all the social functions. Jenny and the committee are also pleased with the numbers of people who made it up to Darwin from all over the globe and note that all participants appeared to thoroughly enjoy their time while in Darwin.

Photos from the 2006 Darwin conference
Some photos from the Darwin Conference are available at: http://www.aes.asn.au/conferences/

Professional photos from the Awards Dinner are available for purchase at: https://photogalleries247.com/infocus/index.php?action=gallery&gallery=20060906f

AES 2007 Melbourne Conference

AES International Conference - Melbourne
Doing Evaluation Better
September 3-7, 2007

The Melbourne Conference Planning Committee extend a warm invitation to all AES members to visit marvellous Melbourne in 2007 for the AES International Conference.

Planning for the 2007 AES International Conference is well advanced. Workshops will be held Monday 3 & Tuesday 4 September 2007 with the Conference session running between Wednesday 5 & Friday 7 September 2007. Further details are available on the conference website www.aes2007.com.au .

The Conference will provide a range of formats to encourage the sharing of ideas, examples, perspectives and experiences around the conference theme Doing Evaluation Better and the strands of Describing, Attributing, Valuing, Using and Influencing and Managing.

A number of international speakers have been invited to contribute to the discussion and to assist in providing recommendations for improving evaluation. These include

Professor Ray Pawson (UK)  Ray will reflect on the achievements of evaluation – in particular on the matter of whether it has produced a transferable, durable and cumulative body of knowledge

Ms Sue Soal (South Africa)  Sue will discuss issues related to building evaluation into organisational practice and management based on her work with the Community Development Resource Association (CRDA), South Africa.

Professor Hallie Preskill (USA)  Hallie will speak on building evaluation capacity and linking evaluation to organisational learning.

Call for proposals are now open for workshop, poster and conference sessions. Check www.aes2007.com.au to submit your proposal/s or to register your interest in being part of this conference. Submissions for call for proposal close 16 March 2007.

We look forward to seeing you in Melbourne in 2007.

Dr Graeme Harvey - Conference Convenor

Please note: the Melbourne Conference Call for Proposals brochure and the 2007 Awards brochure will be sent to all members in hard copy in the New Year.

Vietnamese Interest in AES

A delegation of eight senior government officials from Vietnam visited Australia in October to find out more about how we approach evaluation. They included representatives from the Office of Government, Ministry of Planning and Investment, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and Quang Ngai province. The visit was part of the Vietnam Australia Monitoring and Evaluation Strengthening Project that is working to pilot a national system covering 600 projects with an annual budget of US$3 billion. The project is sponsored by AusAid and conducted by URS Corporation. The delegation also included the team leader John Fargher of URS, an AusAid official and an interpreter.

One of their interests was whether the AES could offer a model of a practitioners network or professional society for Vietnam. I met with them in Sydney to discuss how the AES was formed over twenty years ago and how it functions today. While an interpreter was present, most of our discussion was in English.

They were particularly interested in our Guidelines for the Ethical Conduct of Evaluation, and our Code. They were intrigued by our inclusive approach to membership, and the fact that we do not have entry qualifications beyond an agreement to abide by the objectives and the Code.

We also talked about how the culture of and settings for evaluation vary from country to country, and how different national evaluation societies reflect this. In particular I described how the AES reflects a very mixed yet relatively mature setting for evaluation, with a diversity of government organisations that have varying priorities for evaluation, and practitioners from a range of disciplines and professional backgrounds. Obviously the context in Vietnam is quite different.

Some of the participants had already been active in Asian regional evaluation networks. I encouraged them to join the AES as international members and to come to the AES International Conference in Melbourne. This will give both AES members and our Vietnamese colleagues more opportunities to share experiences and continue the discussions around the roles of professional societies in evaluation.

Chris Milne – AES Fellow

AES Hosts Visitors from China

In mid October, I received a visit from a delegation from the Chinese Enterprises Association. The 7-member delegation was headed by Mr. Wang Shenghu, Deputy Secretary-General of the Association. The main purpose of their visit was to get an understanding of the Australian evaluation system.

China Private Enterprises Association is the peak organization for the young private businesses in China. Compared with the State-Owned enterprises, the private businesses are often perceived to be less trust-worthy in China. The Association is responsible to evaluate the trust-worthiness of the private businesses, the products and services provided by these businesses. To do this, the Association has to recruit evaluators, and set the necessary mechanism to ensure the ethical conducts of evaluators.

With the assistance of an excellent local interpreter, Ms June Zhnang from the Australia China International Association, a lively discussion took place around the following areas:

• AES structure and functions
• Recognition and registration of evaluators
• Ethical principles and the conducts of evaluation.

The visitors were particularly fascinated by the fact that the AES had been developed without direction or at the bidding of government.  I encouraged them to think about how a country as vast as China could create a meaningful professional association.
There is no doubt that the AES will receive more requests from agencies in South Asia and beyond for information and assistance about the way we function and the services we provide within a civil society, see for example the report by Chris Milne in this edition of E-news.

This points to the an important role for our International Committee to be at the forefront of AES business to ensure that initial contacts can be followed up to ensure that we play a leading role in the creation of professional associations in the region.

Associate Professor John Owen – AES Fellow and Publications Committee (Chair)

Publications News

The Publications Committee has been busy during 2006.  Production of the journal is now in hand due to the excellent work of Rosalind Hurworth and Delwyn Goodrick, and the good relations established with our copy editors.

The style of the cover has been streamlined, however we still have some issues about the presentation format, for example the way that tables are presented.

Prospective papers are coming from a variety of sources, including authors from overseas.  We also propose to publish seminal historical articles with comments from a contemporary theorist.  Reviews of recent evaluation books and monographs are now included. The annual conference is a promising source of papers for the journal.  We have agreed that all papers presented at our annual conferences be placed on the appropriate section of the site. Editors will select those contributions that have promise as journal articles. Normally this would mean revisions and, in some cases, the use of referees before they are published.

The AES Fellows continue to be most cooperative in providing comments on refereed articles, however we now need to go to a wider field of referees for the range of articles that are being received.

Brad Shrimpton continues to do a great job with e-news.  An issue we might consider is whether e-news continues to be distributed as a separate communication to members independent of the website.

The new web-site is more dynamic than the one it has replaced, for example there is a facility for announcing up-coming events.  The layout has been revised to facilitate the availability of information for members. Judy Pearce is now in charge of small-scale modifications which can be made at the Canberra office.

Dr John Owen - Publications Committee (Chair)

Evaluation Resources on the Net

Launch of the Independent Evaluators' Webring
The Independent Evaluators' Webring is now up and running at http://www.evaluators-webring.net

The Webring is:

• a website that includes a freely-accessible database of independent evaluators and small evaluation firms from around the world which enables the expertise of evaluators to be clustered, using common criteria
• a match-making tool between demand and offer in the evaluation sector; a place where organisations looking for evaluators can advertise tenders and job opportunities at no cost
• a way to increase traffic on the websites of Webring members; and
• a means for independent evaluators who dont have a professional website to obtain a web presence.

The Webring is not a professional association, or a quality certification mechanism. It has been setup through the collaboration of a group of evaluators from different countries, who volunteered to achieve an ambitious objective within a tight timeframe without external financial support.

Membership of the Webring is open to any professional evaluator. Yearly membership costs 25 Euro, which can be paid via PayPal or credit card. To celebrate the launch of the Webring all subscriptions taken out before the end of 2006 will remain valid until the end of 2007. Revenue from memberships will be fully reinvested in marketing the Webring to organisations looking for evaluators, and to maintaining and upgrading the site. The Webring database is hosted in a secure environment to ensure data integrity.

For further information about the Webring, go to http://www.evaluators-webring.net or contact Marco Lorenzoni, Webring Manager at main@evaluators-webring.net. 

(thank you to Dr June Lennie for contributing this item)

Positions Vacant

Local Jobs

Looking for a new job? Visit the http://www.aes.asn.au/ofinterest/ page on the AES website.

Looking for new staff? Contact the AES office aes@aes.asn.au to advertise positions on the AES website.

Information on Training opportunities, publications etc. also appears on this area of the AES web site.

Get Involved in Your Regional Branch

To access the latest reports and news on upcoming activities at your local AES branch click on the 'Regions' link on the AES website. www.aes.asn.au/regions/

Want to contact your region representative? Here are their names and email links:

Regional Representatives

Canberra
David Roberts
email

New South Wales
Marie Delaney
email

Northern Territory
Nea Harrison
email

Queensland
Diana Beere
email

South Australia
Currently Vacant – Contact Anne Bosio
email

Tasmania
Currently vacant

Victoria
Jessica Kenway
email

Western Australia
John Scougall
email

New Zealand
Mathea Roorda
email

AES Christmas Break Dates

The AES office will be closing from 21 December 2006 and reopens 10 January 2007.

Contact the E-News Editor

If you have contributions or a notice for E-News please email the E-News editor, Brad Shrimpton email