The practical format of the tool is intended to facilitate structured dialogue among policy, research and program staff along the following five evaluation readiness topic areas:
- Evaluation Culture and Awareness
- Funding Strategies
- Data Management
- Staff Skills, Capacity and Knowledge
- Strategic Planning
The ERA tool contains a separate section for each of the above topic areas. Each section begins with a general guiding question, which is followed by a series of more detailed statements aligned to the evaluation topic. Individuals completing the assessment are encouraged to assign a rating for each statement—on a scale of 1 to 5—to indicate how well their agency is doing, based on the information in the statement. As applicable, each statement includes a reference to the relevant section of the Evaluation Toolkit where more detailed information and guidance can be found.
To get the most of this tool, we recommend the following steps:
- Share with your staff and partners
- Independently complete the tool (no wrong answers)
- Meet to compare and explore responses
- Discuss next small and achievable steps
Be sure to check out the follow-up to this tool, the Evaluation Design Assessment Tool.