Evaluation Can Cross the Boundaries

The Case of Transport Canada

Abstract

This article examines how an evaluation unit in a federal government department transformed itself from a traditional function focusing on a few time-consuming and resource-intensive evaluation studies per year to a more service-oriented unit that has added results measurement to its core functions. It went down this road to increase the impact it was having on individuals, programs, and the department as whole. Along the way it discovered a new breed of evaluator: outgoing people interested in teaching, coaching, and facilitating. It found that there is more results measurement work out there than one unit can handle, and it learned to go where impact is highest. It had to cope with good evaluators being lured away by programs, and it recognized threats to evaluation independence. In the end, it has become a champion of the evaluator as results measurement specialist and is reaping the benefits of better results data, more astute evaluators, a more dynamic and stimulating work environment, and a larger and more visible impact.