This seminar will bring together two solitudes: multi-stakeholder platforms, and utilization-focused evaluation.

In recent years, the field of program evaluation has shifted attention from the conventional and dominant focus on accountability (verifying outcomes) to striking a balance with learning-oriented evaluation. The more recent learning-focused approaches are collaborative, process-oriented, and in tune with systems change. The articulation of One Health in practice requires multiple stakeholders to come together to agree on collaborative action. These gatherings have multiple names (living labs, multi-stakeholder platforms, etc.) with different areas of emphasis (collaboration, experimentation, innovation). Regardless, these organizational arrangements require that individuals step out of their workplace boundaries; sometimes for a single workshop, other times for extended periods under formalized consortia. As with any project or pilot initiative, those involved in these collaboration spaces soon come up with questions. How do we know whether this is working? Who else needs to be here? On what basis do we keep investing in this effort? How will we know when we ‘get there’? The answer lies in Utilization-Focused and Developmental Evaluation: a decision-making framework for collaborative design of evaluation.

Ricardo Ramirez is an Independent researcher and consultant and an Adjunct Professor in the School of Environmental Design and Rural Development at the University of Guelph.