Workshop: Commissioning Better Evaluations

Date and time: Monday 12 February & Monday 19 February 2024, 11.00am to 2.30pm AEDT (registration from 10.45am). Registrants are to attend both sessions. (full day workshop - 2 sessions)

Venue: Via Zoom. Details will be emailed to registrants just prior to the workshop start time

Facilitators: Vanessa Hood and Duncan Rintoul

Register online by: 9 February 2024. Spaces limited to 25 participants

Fees (GST inclusive): Members $295, Organisational member staff $415, Non-members $485, Student member $140, Student non-member $226. Students must send proof of their full-time student status to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 

Workshop Overview

This workshop has been custom designed for people who want to commission better evaluations. It is for people with a role in planning, commissioning and managing evaluations. It is suitable for beginners through to those with a few years' experience. 

The training is interactive and hands-on, with lots of practical examples and group activities through the day to keep the blood pumping and the brain ticking. It will provide you with tools that you can start using immediately.

Workshop Content

Participants will gain knowledge and consolidate their understanding of:

• factors that influence what evaluation work is undertaken in-house vs. contacted out

• engaging your stakeholders in the planning, conduct and use of an external evaluation

• elements that make up a good evaluation brief / approach to market / scope of services

• how to describe what you’re looking for – different types of evaluation and how they can be used to inform policy, strategy and project work

• techniques for developing and prioritising your evaluation questions

• factors that influence the scale, cost and timeframe of an external evaluation

• ways of estimating an evaluation budget

• what to look for in an external evaluation team

• assessment of evaluation proposals/quotes and the procurement process

• management of external evaluation contracts

• governance, risk management and ethical conduct in external evaluations

Workshop Outcomes

Participants will leave the workshop with skills and knowledge to commission better evaluations.

PL competencies

This workshop aligns with competencies in the AES Evaluator’s Professional Learning Competency Framework. The identified domains are

• Domain 5 – Project management

Who should attend?

Anyone working in government, the community sector or business who has a role in planning, commissioning or managing evaluations. No prior experience in evaluation is required.

Workshop start times

• VIC, NSW, ACT, TAS: 11.00am

• SA: 10.30am

• QLD: 10.00am

• NT: 9.30am

• WA: 8.00am

• New Zealand: 1.00pm

• For other time zones please go to https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/converter.html

About the facilitators

Vanessa Hood and Duncan Rintoul are two of the people who run Rooftop Social, a consulting firm that specialises in social research, evaluation, strategy and design, facilitation and capacity building. Both bring deep practical experience in designing and delivering ECB programs in government and non-government organisations. Together, they have run training on evaluation for a wide range of organisations, ranging from Girl Guides Australia and Financial Literacy Australia to the Victorian Country Fire Authority and the Queensland Department of Natural Resources, Mines and Energy.

Vanessa is the former evaluation lead at Sustainability Victoria. She spent much of 2017 as an Evaluation Fellow in the Australian Government Department of Environment and Energy, where she worked with senior and mid-level groups to advance both strategic and technical aspects of evaluative practice in the organsation. Of late, she has been working extensively with NGOs in the financial counselling and financial literacy sectors. Van also delivers an AES workshop on Facilitation for Evaluators.

Duncan has designed and delivered scores of evaluations over a 20+ year career, as well as ECB programs for numerous government agencies, including the Victorian Department of Education and Training, the Australian Government Department of Industry and Science, the Australian Communications and Media Authority, Transport for NSW and the ACT government. From 2015-19 he established and led a team responsible for building internal capacity for evaluation and use of evidence across the NSW Department of Education. For a sample of the resources developed as part of this project see here.