94 - The story of innovation practice in the third-party evaluation carried out by China Association for Science and Technology

Abstract Information: Based on the characteristics of non-governmental organization and close ties with S&T professionals, CAST has undertaken a number of evaluations, supporting the scientific decision-making. With years of evaluation practice, CAST has formed a set of evaluation theories and methods based on independence, objectivity, and professionalism, enriching the story of the third-party evaluation. The storytelling of the third-party evaluation by CAST reflects the characteristics in overall and strategic nature of the evaluation, integrity of the investigation system, universality of community participation, openness and collaboration of the implementation, and optimization of evaluation methods. For the improvement in theory system and the level of practice, the story of the third-party evaluations by CAST brings the following significance: Firstly, it enriches the types of evaluation subjects. With the unique organizational form, CAST is the largest non-governmental organization of scientific and technological professionals, which is different from the "social organizations and institutions independent of government departments" mentioned in the existing third-party evaluation theory. Secondly, it effectively integrates the interest demand of community in social governance via the organizational system and operational mechanism. The opinions of S&T professionals can also be fully reflected in the evaluation process through the community working system that connects and serves them, as well as the crisscrossing network system. Thirdly, it enhances governance capacity of the government with the evaluation of strategy and planning, promoting the reform and innovation of government management. Furthermore, it gives impetus to the institutionalization of non-governmental organization participating in third-party evaluation.

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