EvalParticipativa started in 2019 as a joint research and extension initiative between PETAS (Research Program on Employment, Environment and Society) at the National University of San Juan (Argentina) and the German Institute for Development Evaluation (DEval) through their development cooperation projects for capacity building in evaluation (Focelac 2019 – 2024 and EvalConnect 2025-2026).
PETAS is a research program that articulates the generation and dissemination of scientific knowledge with the commitment to carry out extension and social training actions.
Over the past twenty years, PETAS has been working on the analysis and evaluation of public policies, adopting different approaches such as systematization and capitalization of experiences, learning-oriented evaluation, and collaborative and participatory evaluation approaches.
EvalConnect 2025-2026 is an initiative aimed at strengthening evaluation capacities by articulating countries from the global south and north, funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), which seeks to disseminate good practices and experiences in countries from different regions. Starting in 2025, given the new guidelines of Germany’s development cooperation sector, which require a regional and thematic reorientation, DEval will no longer continue as a partner of EvalParticipativa. However, during 2026, support will continue to be provided for some ongoing initiatives.
Other initiative partners
EvalParticipativa coordinates actions with the Latin American and Caribbean Network of Monitoring, Evaluation and Systematisation (ReLAC / ReLAC Linkedin). ReLAC’s mission is to help strengthen the culture and practice of monitoring, evaluation and systematisation. This social and political process is essential if policies, programmes and projects are to be improved. It also works to create greater transparency and citizen participation; values shared by this community of practice and learning. There are multiple experiences of participatory evaluation and other collaborative approaches developed by ReLAC members in the region. It is our intention to know, document and socialize these initiatives, to strengthen collective learning around these approaches, as well as connect with participatory experiences in other latitudes, especially from the Global South, and influence the dialogue on transformative evaluation with proposals based on experiences.
You can take part too!
EvalParticipativa wants to include all people and organizations interested in participatory and inclusive evaluation approaches as long as they feel motivated and have a vocation for sharing their practice and learning horizontally and collectively. If you are interested in this proposal, you can write to us at eval.participativa@unsj.edu.ar, and tell us what you do, what you offer and how you would be interested in participating.
There are many ways to get involved, from simply sharing a publication for our resource bank to specific involvement in organizing a local, national or regional workshop, developing a webinar or other training instance. You can also get involved by contributing significant experiences and learnings around these approaches. And, of course, you can support us by subscribing to this blog at SEGUIR. The important thing is to add up and, together, strengthen the community of practice and learning that brings us together today.
