Evaluating to Understand, Learn, and Act
Evaluations that turn evidence and diverse perspectives into learning, decisions, and new possibilities for action.
Evaluating is much more than measuring results
Organizations need to understand what is changing, what they are achieving, and how they are contributing to those changes. But in complex contexts, results rarely follow linear paths: multiple actors, power relations, decisions, and conditions come into play, and some of the most important things that happen may fall outside indicators or reports.
Organizations need to understand what is changing, what they are achieving, and how they are contributing to those changes. But in complex contexts, results rarely follow linear paths: multiple actors, power relations, decisions, and conditions come into play, and some of the most important things that happen may fall outside indicators or reports.
At Purpose & Ideas, we understand evaluation as an opportunity to pause, look from different perspectives, and learn from experience in order to make better decisions about what to do next.
We design rigorous, participatory, and use-oriented processes that combine evidence with systems thinking, a careful attention to inclusion, collective intelligence, and organizational learning. We engage a diversity of actors and voices, not only as sources of information but as active participants in interpreting findings and building their implications.
The value of an evaluation can go far beyond the report: expanding understanding, making different experiences and perspectives visible, generating conversations, and opening possibilities for action.
Our experience
We have extensive experience in evaluation and learning, from projects and programs to strategies and portfolios, working with foundations, cooperation agencies, networks, civil society organizations, and governments across different regions. Among other processes, we have evaluated the Education and Science portfolio of the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), with more than 300 projects; the Learning Together to Advance Evidence and Equity in Policymaking for Achieving the SDGs (LEEPS) initiative in Africa; and the global strategy of the Global Network of Civil Society Organisations for Disaster Reduction (GNDR).
Three ways to work together
Participatory Strategic Evaluation
We evaluate programs, strategies, and initiatives by combining methods and perspectives to understand results, contributions, and learnings, and translate them into decisions about the future.
Portfolio Review and Learning
We analyze a set of projects or initiatives transversally to identify patterns, emerging results, learnings, and opportunities that are not always visible when looking at them individually.
Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning Lab
We support organizations in designing, redesigning, and strengthening their monitoring, evaluation, and learning capabilities and systems, connecting data, collective reflection, and decision-making so that learning becomes part of everyday practice.
Each process is designed based on the questions and challenges of each organization. If you want to explore together how evaluation can help you learn, decide, and open new possibilities, let's talk.
