CES - SCÉ 2019

Evaluation is well situated to serve marginalized populations; however, if precautions are not taken, evaluation can also harm members of those populations (e.g., recreate trauma). This concern can be addressed by applying Culturally Responsive Evaluation (CRE; Hood, Hopson, & Frierson, 2005), which recognizes that cultural context and evaluation practice are naturally intertwined. In recognizing this, CRE follows the same general stages of other evaluation approaches but proposes practice guidelines to inform each stage.

CRE was central to our project, a collaboration between a government-based evaluation service and provincial network serving African Canadian women, that evaluated the network's processes and progress toward its goals. Project data were collected from document review and key informant interviews. The results of the project and lessons learned by members of both organizations from applying CRE in a real-wold context are provided in this presentation.