Using Evidence

Making Evaluation Useful and Useable

Using Evidence is a research and evaluation consultancy that focuses on development and research evaluation. Using Evidence is concerned not only with high quality research, but in exploring ways to enhance the use of results.

What We Do

We specialize in research and evaluation consultancy, with a particular focus on development and research evaluation. Our goal is to make evaluation more useful and useable for organizations and communities.

I have had a strong focus on evaluation methods for many years because I think we need new approaches that take account of complexity and that also look at systems not only at projects and programs. I worked with colleagues on the development of Outcome Mapping as well as an approach to Organizational Assessment. Both of these methods integrate context directly into the assessment approach and treat it as a key variable.

Major evaluations can benefit from an external perspective to review the design and draft report. I have carried out quality assessments for Universalia Management Group on evaluations they have conducted for the World Food Program, and for IUCN on Value for Money assessments. I provided quality assurance on the design of the evaluation framework for the learning component of the Global Education Fund.

Evidence from research and evaluation needs to be used if it is going to contribute to social improvement. Too often we focus on the methods and the study itself and forget about use until the very end. Use needs to be thought about from the beginning. This focus was reinforced by a study I did for the International Development Research Centre in which we looked at how the research the Centre supports influences public policy – Knowledge to Policy.

Many organizations struggle to develop effective and use-oriented evaluation systems that help the organization learn and improve. While at the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) I was involved in the design of evaluation systems and processes that helped the organization and its programs learn from experience. Since leaving IDRC, I have worked with the MasterCard Foundation providing support on their evaluation system and I worked with a team to support the development of an evaluation and learning system at the Rideau Hall Foundation in Canada.

I am actively involved in evaluations as well. While at IDRC I was involved in a wide range of evaluations. More recently I have been involved in organizational assessment of UNWomen (regional architecture) in collaboration with EnCompass, and at the Rideau Hall Foundation, with Cindy Weeks Consulting. With Global Affairs Canada, I integrated a Principles-Focused approach to a country program evaluation which GAC has reused in other country program evaluations.

Evaluation should leave behind improved capacity to do evaluation. For many years, I conducted training around the world in organizational assessment and Outcome Mapping. More recently I have been working with the UNESCO Regional Office for Sciences in Latin America and the Caribbean, on a Massive Online Open Course on "Inequities in Latin America and the Caribbean. Research and policy for social transformations", delivering three modules on evaluation.

Featured Publications

Explore our recent research publications that contribute to the field of evaluation and development. Fred Carden is the author or co-author of 8 books published in a dozen languages, as well as numerous chapters, articles and presentations.

Futures, feedback and flexibility: reimagining public sector management and evaluation in the time of polycrisis

Forthcoming, with Ian Goldman, Paul Cairney, Fred Carden, Tamille Dias, Bridget Dillon, Rafael Ferrari, Gareth Morgan. Journal of MultiDisciplinary Evaluation.

This article examines how evaluative practice can better support public management in an era of "polycrisis" marked by climate breakdown, ecological collapse, conflict, inequality, and democratic erosion. The article draws on a global futures exercise using the 3 Horizons approach with 39 case studies of public sector evaluative systems in South Africa, Brazil, the United Kingdom, and the City of Cape Town.

Impact Evaluation of the Newton Fund

2026, Fred Carden, Chris Barnett, Catrin Hepworth, Panayiota Kastritis, Anupama Ramaswamy, Daniela Rodrigues Rincon. Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, Government of the United Kingdom.

This evaluation explores the impacts of the Newton Fund, a research fund of the Government of the UK, about four years after the final grants were made. It seeks to understand what impacts have been achieved since the fund was launched in 2014.

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Research Quality Plus for Co-Production (RQ+ 4 Co-Pro)

2023, Health Research Policy and Systems.

Research co-production framework for creating knowledge that is relevant to current challenges and increasing uptake into practice, programs, and policy.

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Evaluating research co-production: protocol framework

2022, Implementation Science Communications.

Protocol for evaluating research co-production involving research users and researchers working together to generate knowledge.

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Blogs

Whose knowledge matters?
Evaluation for Development, 3 August 2018

Learning about learning in an adaptive program
With Arnaldo Pellini. Better Evaluation, 21 March 2017.

Indonesia's knowledge sector is catching up, but a large gap persists
With Arnaldo Pellini and Helen Tilley. The Conversation. 16 November 2016.

Science and Research in the Public Interest – the Role of National Science Academies.
Research to Action. 10 November 2016.

Remarks to the Indonesian Young Academy of Scientists – ALMI
AIPI Silver Jubilee 29 May 2015

Whose Development Results Count?
Norrag News. August 2, 2012

Videos

April 7th, 2020. The role of institutions for transformation in the global South
 https://bluemarbleeval.org/latest/role-institutions-transformation-global-south

2017 & 2018. UNESCO Montevideo. MOOC (Massive Open On-line Course).
 Desigualdades en América Latina y el Caribe: Investigación, Políticas, y Gestión para las Transformaciones Sociales.

Module 1: Experiences from the Field: https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/desigualdades-america-latina/1/steps/266622

Module 3: Evaluating for Equity.
https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/desigualdades-america-latina/1/steps/275690#fl-comments

Module 4: From Knowledge to Policy
https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/desigualdades-america-latina/1/steps/276927

2016. Rethinking Research Policies and Practices. (at 43:30). Centre for Innovation, Policy and Governance, Jakarta.

2012. Emerging Practices in Evaluating Policy Influence. My M&E eLearning Series on Emerging Practices in Development Evaluation.

2010. Development is Not an Intervention. Presentation to the Virtual Conference on Evaluation, Witwatersrand University.

2009. Evidence-Based Policy Making. IFPRI, Washington. DC.

About Fred

Fred is an evaluation specialist with over 30 years' experience in evaluating development research and programming, and the development of evaluation methodologies. In addition to his focus on methods, Fred has interest and expertise in the use of evidence in public policy.

In 2015 Fred established Using Evidence Inc., a global consultancy that focuses on efforts to improve the use of research and evaluative evidence in decision making.

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Whether you need evaluation support, research guidance, or want to explore how evidence can better inform your decision-making processes, we're here to help.

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