In the third episode of this new podcast season, we share a chapter from the book ‘Evaluation, Democracy, and Transformation: Experiences of Participatory Evaluation in Latin America‘ (only in Spanish). With the help of artificial intelligence, we recreate a conversation between two hosts who explore the main ideas of the chapter and discuss how the EvalParticipativa community works to strengthen evaluation capacities across the region.
The chapter, written by Esteban Tapella and Pablo Rodríguez Bilella, describes EvalParticipativa’s approach. At its core, it brings together two things: a community of practice and a community of learning. The text explains the role of adult education, built on a dialogic and participatory methodology. It also looks at the goals of the training process, the topics covered, the teaching tools that were developed, and the different training opportunities offered over time. The chapter also reflects on some key lessons from this experience. One of the most important is the role of professional training in promoting participatory approaches to evaluation, while still maintaining the methodological rigor that evaluation requires in different contexts across Latin America.
‘Readiness’ is an English language term that is difficult to translate into Spanish as it encompasses various themes: preparation, availability, propensity, timeliness, agility, competency, willingness – among others. In the Spanish version of this entry, we use ‘availability’ (‘disposición’) with the understanding that it covers the other themes. In the field of evaluation, readiness is foremost across the first two steps of Utilization-focused Evaluation (UFE) as proposed by Michael Quinn Patton (2008). Readiness is also referenced in other fields, for instance in communication strategy design (Ramelan, 2014).
I’m genuinely delighted to share a personal take on Chapter 7: Participatory evaluation of a public transport support policy: an inclusion and transformation perspective – Jalisco (Mexico), recently published in the book Evaluation, Democracy and Transformation: Experiences of Participatory Evaluation in Latin America. I co-wrote it with Sugey Salazar and Selene Michi, and together with other colleagues we reflect on what it really means to carry out public policy evaluation using participatory approaches from within the public sector.
As we close this seven-year cycle of collective work, we wish to celebrate what we have built together: a vibrant community of practice and learning around participatory evaluation and inclusive approaches. Within it, every voice has contributed, every shared experience has enriched us, and every encounter has woven bonds that go beyond isolated practices, now reaching more than four thousand people and multiple organizations.
In 
With the enforcement of Mongolia’s Law on Special Protected Area 
The chapter we present in the book 
Dear friends of EvalParticipativa,