The participants will

Know what the Anthropocene Epoch is that humanity is now in and the implications for design and evaluation of transformative initiatives and interventions.

Learn the dimensions of a theory of transformation, how it is different from a theory of change, and the evaluation implications of the differences.

Transforming evaluation for evaluating transformation examines the contributions that evaluation can make to addressing crises like the coronavirus pandemic, the global climate emergency, and related threats to human survival looming large in Earth’s future.

Humankind has moved into a new epoch called the Anthropocene: The era of human impact on the future of the Earth. The stability, sustainability, and resilience of the Earth’s systems, both natural and human, are now at risk due to cumulative negative human actions. Two conclusions characterize our times:

-> Humanity’s use of the Earth’s resources for both production and consumption is unsustainable.

-> Transformation globally is urgently required to avoid catastrophe.

The Coronavirus Pandemic has provided a glimpse into the magnitude of changes set in motion by a global emergency. United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres (2020), among many others, has warned consistently throughout the pandemic that climate change looms over the world as a larger, more far-reaching global emergency for which Covid-19 has been but a dress rehearsal, an early warning of what lies ahead at greater magnitude though slower manifestation.

Michael Quinn Patton has been an IPDET instructor since the program’s beginning in 2000. He is author of 8 major evaluation books including 4th editions of Utilization-Focused Evaluation and Qualitative Research and Evaluation Methods. He was recognized in 2020 by the EvalYouth Network with its first Transformative Evaluator Award.

1 week interactive online workshop

Those concerned about addressing transformational change in the face of the global crises brought on by climate change & related threats to the survival of humanity whether they be evaluators, designers of transformative interventions, policy makers conce

Participants at any level of expertise are welcome. It is not a technical course requiring advanced knowledge. Anyone can grasp the principles and practices covered in the course.