General

Overview – General

WHAT IS THE IOCE?

IOCE 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.

We invite all regional and national professional evaluation associations, societies and networks to join us! We also invite everyone interested in evaluation to make use of our resources, to participate in our initiatives and to contribute to our goals through your evaluation organisation. We offer linkages to other evaluation organisations, material on how to develop evaluation associations, forums that network evaluators internationally, news of events and important initiatives, and opportunities to exchange ideas, practices, and insights with evaluation associations, societies and networks throughout the world.

IOCE AS PART OF A BROADER MOVEMENT

Internationally, evaluation is at the heart of modern developments in governance and democracy. We live in a world that demands continuous improvement in the performance of administrations; greater accountability and transparency – in the interests of citizens as well as policy makers; and effective delivery of results in the in public and private sectors and civil society. Evaluation addresses these demands by providing feedback on what has worked; deepening our understanding of the processes of policy implementation; designing knowledge systems that allow institutions and systems to learn; and developing capacities to manage effectively and to innovate. In many countries and in every continent evaluators have come together to form professional associations and societies. The IOCE already has been formed by societies from Asia, Africa, Latin America, North America, Europe and Australasia. The growth in the numbers of such associations and societies has been rapid. In the 1980s there were only three national and regional evaluation societies, by the late 1990s there were nine and by the beginning of the 21st century the number had grown to fifty. These evaluation organisations aim to improve methods and practice, enhance the standards and quality of evaluation work, develop skills, promote ethical behaviour and standards, strengthen professional independence and provide a forum for exchange, debate and learning. The IOCE has been set up to add value to these many national and regional efforts – to encourage cooperation and to strengthen evaluation internationally. IOCE is part of this contemporary movement that looks to evaluation as a profession and practice that can contribute to improve societal, policy and institutional problem solving and development.