Developing Evaluation Cultures in Human Service Organisations

Abstract

Evaluation is currently receiving significant attention in the not-for-profit sector in Australia as a changing external environment augments its role in human service organisations. These bodies typically make use of three models to carry out evaluation activities to meet funding and organisational requirements: the use of external evaluators to carry out specific projects; creating internal evaluation functions to manage evaluation needs independently; or a combination of the two. This article outlines the characteristics of an internal evaluation culture in the context of a learning organisation, and describes the increasingly common approach of evaluation capacity building. In conclusion, the relevance of utilising an organisational change process to create sustainable and valued cultural change is discussed.