Systems in Evaluation
Hannah McMillan, MPH (she/her/hers)
Health Scientist
Centers for Disease Control, Georgia, United States
Charmagne Campbell-Patton, MA
Director of Organizational Learning & Evaluation
Utilization-Focused Evaluation, United States
Charmagne Campbell-Patton, MA
Director of Organizational Learning & Evaluation
Utilization-Focused Evaluation, United States
Michael Patton, PhD (he/him/his)
Founder and Director
Utilization-Focused Evaluation
PINE CITY, Minnesota, United States
Rees Warne, ABD (she/her/hers)
Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Lead
Bezos Earth Fund, United States
Michael (Mike) Moore, MS (he/him/his)
VISTA Coordinator & Evaluator
Community Refugee & Immigration Services (CRIS)
Columbus, Ohio, United States
Location: White River Ballroom C
Abstract Information: Our complex and increasingly connected world needs widespread, holistic transformations. When evaluators challenge themselves to think beyond siloed project evaluation goals, they can accelerate opportunities to maximize systems change and make broader impacts. The Blue Marble Evaluation approach provides guiding and operating principles (e.g., global thinking, integration, transformation) for how to conduct evaluation work in an integrative way, and can be applied to any project or sector. This dynamic Think Tank will provide an overview of the Blue Marble Evaluation perspective, examples of how evaluators have applied the principles across different sectors (e.g., public health, climate, education), and give participants an opportunity to discuss how they can use the approach in their work. Breakout groups will focus on understanding how this perspective and accompanying principles can be applied in day-to-day evaluative inquiry. We will then come together to share ideas on how to carry this approach forward and spark a movement of more Blue Marble thinkers. Many evaluators are very eager to make a sustainable and equitable impact within our world, and this session will provide a space to explore how to do just that.
Relevance Statement: How do we use evaluation to tell the story of global systems change? We do so by weaving together data at the local, national, regional, and global levels, making connections, and breaking down silos. Evaluation plays an increasingly critical role in reshaping and transforming systems in our world to be more equitable and sustainable (e.g., food systems, health systems). Michael Quinn Patton’s Blue Marble Evaluation approach provides perspectives, principles, and guidance for how evaluators can leverage their work in order to maximize an impact on these systems that are in desperate need of transformation. 1 This work is urgent and the Think Tank will provide a space to bring evaluators together for collaboration and inspiration to think bigger and bolder within their work. It will provide methodology, principles, and guidance, as well as opportunities to connect and evolve ideas together. Our field can help push systems and our world forward, and we believe that this session can spark collaborative change in how we approach evaluation. 1 Patton, MQ. (2019). Blue Marble Evaluation: Premises and Principles. Guilford Publications.