Evaluation for Transformational Change: Opportunities and challenges for the Sustainable Development Goals

The fifth book in the publication series of IDEAS and the second to be published online presents essays on evaluating transformational change that can be taken up in discussion at the 2019 Global Assembly in Prague. When Agenda 2030 was presented in 2015, it promised “transformational change”. Four years later the need for transformational change is becoming ever more urgent, as witnessed in the climate action summit at the United Nations on 23 September 2019.

The chapters gathered in this book bring “learned arguments” for transformational change of our evaluations for transformational change… They explore how this would work out for supporting the SDGs, from areas of work that are advanced in this regard (chapter 7) to areas where progress still encounters barriers (chapters 4 and 5) or even major challenges (chapter 6). They propose a new approach (chapter 2), systems thinking and a new analytical toolbox (chapter 8), while calling for a revolutionary transformation of the evaluation profession itself (chapter 3). IDEAS hopes that this collection of essays will contribute to a further discussion of how evaluation can support transformational change in a world that needs this more than ever.

This book is available for free download as individual chapters or the entire book.