2011 EEN Forum Info

Environmental Evaluation: Navigating Complexity

June 23-24, 2011

The George Washington University, Washington, D.C

The Trachtenberg School of Public Policy and Public Administration

Forum Documents

Flyer – EEN 2011 Forum • PDF

2011 EEN Forum Logistics • PDF

What

The Environmental Evaluators Network (EEN) will host its 6th annual Forum in Washington DC at The George Washington University on June 23-24, 2011. The purpose of the EEN is to advance the field of environmental program and policy evaluation through more systematic and collective learning. EEN participants will gather together at the 2011 Forum with 250 of our peers from across the diversity of the environmental sector to discuss practical approaches to understanding and navigating complexity in our work.

The Challenge

In an era of accountability and effectiveness, recipients and funders of environmental programs need to know what works, what does not work, and better ways to access and use real-time information for planning and decision-making.  We need to know – but our learning is challenged by the interdependencies, feedback loops and uncertainties that characterize our social and environmental systems.

How can we navigate the complexity of our social and environmental systems to improve measurement and evaluation throughout the lifecycle of our programs and policies?  In this context, how can we improve our capacity to meet the requirements and desire for accessible, useful and credible evidence of program and policy effectiveness?

This Year’s Theme:

To begin to answer these questions, the Forum will provide a space for rich informal interaction to explore practical and theoretical aspects of “Environmental Evaluation: Navigating Complexity,” including:

Understanding and describing complexity in our work;

Enhancing conceptualization, design, management, and measurement and evaluation of our approaches (e.g. programs, policies, interventions) to solving complex problems;

Tools, practices, skills, methods, knowledge and information that will increase our capacity to understand and navigate complexity in our work;

Effectively measuring performance in the face of complexity; and

Measurement and evaluation of unintended and unanticipated outcomes.

[/list]

Audience

The EEN welcomes domestic and international evaluators and users of evaluation from all relevant fields (e.g., conservation, environmental protection, natural resource management and sustainable development) working in government agencies, foundations, consulting firms, non-profit organizations, academia and transnational institutions.

Format

Each year the EEN Forum creates a space for lively, creative, cutting-edge dialogue. To further enhance value of the event and access the experience and knowledge of EEN participants, collaboration will extend from planning to the Forum to post-meeting follow-up using a mix of social media, art, webinars, music, network weaving, theatre, Evaluators Café tool tables and open space technology.

Sponsors

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

National Fish and Wildlife Foundation

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

The George Washington University Trachtenberg School of Public Policy and Pubic Administration

[/list]