The coronavirus pandemic has been one of the most influential events in recent history. It has created unprecedented challenges in every aspect of a person’s life. The impact on the society, people’s health and even the economy is certainly intense and even devastating. The pandemic has brought about a high degree of uncertainty in business.
As a result, many organizations are wary of investing in programs and policies. There is a high risk of such programs turning out to be ineffective and even unsustainable. Considering the challenges, evaluation processes need to be reexamined so that better decisions can be made to address the effects of the pandemic.
As a result, it has become imperative for those in charge of evaluation to adapt to these new circumstances. It is important to examine the role played by evaluations and understand how to proceed in future.
Evaluation Process in Decision-making
It is important to demonstrate the benefits of the program compared to its costs. The pandemic has made this process all the more important. The pandemic crisis has forced organizations to reallocate resources and reconsider investments. Any information that is capable of adequately informing those decisions is vital. As such, evaluation processes must be able to provide a complete picture of the program, its successes, its risks and its rewards.
Traditional evaluation methods are no longer enough. Those in charge of evaluation must work to identify alternatives that can provide actionable data. This will enable organizations to gain the necessary insights for improving programs and generate better results.
Evaluation Process in Planning
While the pandemic is forcing organizations to become creative in their businesses processes, a few things remain unchanged. Evaluation is still necessary to understand what actions are necessary and what factors to consider. The major change as well as the major challenge lies in the data collection methods. Data collection can no longer be conducted face to face. While virtual methods have been around, their usage is going to increase exponentially in the future.
Once that challenge is addressed, it becomes easier to plan proactively for improved responses to the next crisis. It will enable development evaluation processes to become better at answering the different questions that invariably come with any crisis, even a pandemic.
Transformation of Evaluations
The pandemic revealed several aspects of societies which are generally overlooked. One of them is the persistent inequality of modern society. Some of the evaluations conducted during this period also revealed their lack of attention to the different elements in social structures and power relations.
Therefore, going forward, evaluations must be transformative enough to address these inequalities. They must take into account the different perspectives of the disadvantaged and the marginalized. One possible step is to increase the transparency of the accountability processes for all stakeholders of an evaluation.
Evaluation processes cannot afford to remain stuck in the past. They must continuously evolve to address the new challenges. The pandemic has made that abundantly clear.
This blog was adapted from the following post at UNSSC. Click the following link to read the original:
https://www.unssc.org/news-and-insights/blog/rethinking-evaluation-times-coronavirus/
