In the spring of 2019, a CES National Capital membership scan was conducted for the NCC Board. It launched a new initiative focusing on Chapter membership and partnership development. The NCC Board of Directors, and many other members have been aware of the need to ensure that the Chapter remains vital, attracting and retaining new members and engaging in productive partnerships with related organizations. Conducting the scan was an effort in better understanding “who we are”, “what we expect” and “how we connect”. The scan provided a detailed profile, depicting “where we are now” as a chapter.

Relying on secondary data, the scan examined the demographic and professional characteristics of the CES-NCC membership, and member expectations regarding Chapter functions and services. The scan also explored, via a social network analysis, patterns in members’ attendance at CES-NCC events and CES National Conferences. The Chapter resembles a loose coalition of individual interests, but one that has distinct sub-communities with shared membership characteristics.

This session will present highlights of the findings of the membership scan with the aim of generating a discussion as to what the findings mean for the National Capital Chapter and how they may point to avenues for improvement.

Speakers:
John Burrett, President, Haikuanalytics Inc.
Wayne MacDonald, President, Infinity Consulting and Legal Services,

BREAKFAST SESSION: Principles-Focused Evaluation

Principles-driven leaders engage in Principles-based Initiatives that call for Principles-Focused Evaluation. Principles-Focused Evaluation makes principles the focus of evaluation. Three questions are the focus of evaluation: (1) To what extent and in what ways are the principles meaningful to those meant to be guided by the principles? (2) If meaningful, to what extent and in what ways are the principles adhered to? (3) If adhered to, to what extent and in what ways do principles guide results? The session will present and explain the GUIDE approach to developing and evaluating principles. GUIDE calls for principles to be directive, useful, inspiring, adaptable to contexts, and evaluable. Examples of principles-focused initiatives and corresponding principles-focused evaluations will be shared. This innovative approach to evaluation is on the leading edge of the field and is attracting attention around the world as a way of engaging with change and transformation in complex dynamic systems. He will also discuss his forthcoming book on Blue Marble Evaluation, a principles-focused approach to global systems transformation evaluation.

Speaker:
Michael Quinn Patton, founder and director of Utilization-Focused Evaluation, is former president of the American Evaluation Association. He is an Independent evaluation consultant with 45 years experience. He has written eight major evaluation books including Principles-Focused Evaluation (2018).

BREAKFAST SESSION: Integrating GBA + in Evaluation, Moving from Rhetoric to Reality

The Government of Canada, has moved over these past few years to bolster its commitment to Gender Equality, both on the domestic and the international scenes.

The Minister for Women and Gender Equality was mandated to champion the integration of Gender Based Analysis Plus (GBA+), with central agencies, in key Government of Canada processes and planning tools.

To this end, Treasury Board Secretariat and the Department for Women and Gender Equality launched a Primer entitled “Integrating GBA + in Evaluation” (2019). The Primer contains advice for the evaluation community on how to integrate GBA+ into every phase of the evaluation process.

Please join Christine Minas, Director and Champion of the Evaluation Community, from the Results Division of Treasury Board Secretariat and Carol Ann Miller, Senior Policy Analyst, from Department for Women and Gender Equality for a presentation of the Primer. There will be an open discussion on present day challenges for evaluators in integrating GBA plus into federal evaluation work, and what the future may look like.

Speakers:
Carol Miller, D.Phil., is a Senior Analyst, Evaluation Unit, Research, Results and Delivery Branch, Department for Women and Gender Equality. She started her career as a gender and development researcher with UNRISD, a Geneva-based UN research institution, later going on to work for several international NGOs and as a consultant with a wide variety of NGOs, foundations, and think tanks. She is an Associate of Gender at Work. Recent assignments include: technical support to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation on measurement and metrics for gender integration; guidance to Global Affairs Canada on a feminist approach to monitoring, evaluation and learning; and development of UNICEF Evaluation Office Guidance on Gender-Responsive Evaluation. She has published widely on gender and women’s rights issues. She holds degrees from Western University, the London School of Economics, and Oxford University, as well as a diploma in Program and Policy Evaluation from Carleton’s School of Public Policy and Administration.

Christine Minas is a Director in the Results Division at Treasury Board Secretariat and the Champion for the Federal Evaluation Community. She has worked in several federal departments, including many years at Employment and Social Development Canada where she held positions in evaluation, research and policy. Christine is an expert in socio-economic issues across the policy-program-delivery continuum. In the past three years Christine served on the ESDC Mental Health Framework Implementation Committee providing leadership on progress measurement. Recognized for her leadership, Christine actively builds partnerships to achieve results. As a sociologist of work Christine holds degrees from the Universities of Toronto, Alberta and Cambridge (UK).

BREAKFAST SESSION: An Introduction to Foresight with Blaise Hebert, Policy Horizons Canada

BREAKFAST SESSION with Jean-François Tremblay, Deputy Minister of Indigenous Services Canada

Jean-François Tremblay, Deputy Minister of Indigenous Services Canada, will lead a thought-provoking discussion on how evaluation can contribute to meaningful improvements to the ways in which programs and services are delivered and their resulting impacts on people. The federal government, including Indigenous Services Canada, is currently undergoing significant transformation in the way it works with its partners to improve access to high quality services for Indigenous peoples. From its unique vantage point and through meaningful engagement and co-creation with Indigenous partners, evaluators can provide invaluable foresight and advice to leaders while organizations are in the midst of transforming. Mr. Tremblay will discuss his views and insight on the ways in which timely evaluation can add tremendous value to leaders during times of transformative change such as that currently being led by Indigenous Services Canada.

Speakers:
Jean-François Tremblay – Deputy Minister of Indigenous Services
Jean-François Tremblay was appointed Deputy Minister of Indigenous Services on September 25th, 2017.

Mr. Tremblay joined the federal public service in 2000 as a policy analyst with the Privy Council Office, holding a variety of responsibilities with Intergovernmental Affairs and the Social Development Policy Secretariat.

Mr. Tremblay holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from Université Laval.

David Peckham, Chief Audit and Evaluation Executive, Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada and Indigenous Services Canada
David Peckham is the Chief Audit and Evaluation Executive for Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada and Indigenous Services Canada. In this role he has responsibility for internal audit, evaluation, investigations and corporate risk coordination. David joined the department in September 2017.