Response to Evaluation Field Building in South Asia: Reflections, Anecdotes, and Questions

The author is increasingly sensitive to the Venn diagram of overlapping expertise in which program evaluation intersects a content area such as public health, urban education, or--in the case of Katherine Hay--international development. Many evaluators practice in these areas of overlap, experts in the evaluation of a specific domain. Given her background, the author is unable to comment either on Hay's recounting of the phases of development evaluation in South Asia or on Hay's desire to build evaluation's capacity to serve its citizens, and especially the poor, of that region. Nevertheless, the author is happy to respond to Hay's article as someone firmly grounded in the development of program evaluation in the United States. The author focuses on Katherine Hay's idea of "purposeful" "evaluation field building." This is capacity building across national and international borders. The author presents examples that are chosen to highlight the roles of individuals and organizations, each with potential applicability to the current situation in South Asia. (Contains 1 table.)