Learning Objectives: Identify purposes of evaluation Differentiate between evaluation input, output, quality, and outcomes Identify output and outcome measures logically linked to program indicators Plan appropriate output and outcome measures.

"The Australasian Evaluation Society (AES) is a professional organisation for people involved in evaluation. The AES has over 700 members involved in all aspects of evaluation and performance measurement. Members include evaluation practitioners, managers, teachers and students from all levels of government, educational institutions, research agencies, community organisations, businesses and other interested individuals. Members meet regularly through Regional Groups centred in major cities in Australia and New Zealand. Professional development workshops are conducted throughout Australasia on a regular basis."

"The Society is a Canada-wide non-profit bilingual association dedicated to the advancement of evaluation theory and practice."

"The African Evaluation Association (AfrEA) was founded in 1999 in response to a growing demand for information sharing, advocacy and advanced capacity building in evaluation in Africa. It is an umbrella organisation for national evaluation associations and networks in Africa. It is also a resource for individuals in countries where national bodies do not exist."

Portuguese site - will be translated into English at a later stage

"The primary goal of the European Evaluation Society is to promote theory, practice and utilization of high quality evaluation especially, but not exclusively, within the European countries. This goal is obtained by bringing together academics and practitioners from all over Europe and from any professional sector, thus creating a forum where all participants can benefit from the co-operation and bridge building. The society was founded in the Hague in 1994. The first official board was elected in autumn 1995 and started its work in January 1996."

"The advent of the IDEAS, a voluntary, charitable membership based organization, is timely. A new development consensus has emerged, focused on sustained poverty reduction driven by economic growth; the removal of social and structural constraints to economic and human development; reforms that are owned by those who must carry them out; and an intent, especially in the public sector, to manage for results and measure for performance. In parallel, citizens in developing and developed countries alike, expect more efficient, more accountable and more transparent government and public sector programs and projects that have measurably greater development effectiveness than hitherto. Thus there is need to renew old and established evaluation mechanisms to help deliver results to ensure accountability and learn from mistakes."

"The AEA is an international professional association of evaluators devoted to the application and exploration of program evaluation, personnel evaluation, technology, and many other forms of evaluation. Evaluation involves assessing the strengths and weaknesses of programs, policies, personnel, products, and organizations to improve their effectiveness. AEA has approximately 4000 members representing all 50 states in the US as well as over 60 foreign countries."

"The UN Evaluation Forum is a knowledge network that contains moderated discussions, digests and interesting news postings. This Forum disseminates good practices and lessons learned on measuring, monitoring and evaluation to all member agencies of the UN Evaluation Group (UNEG). More specifically, the UN Evaluation Forum aims to: a) enable exchange of experiences and knowledge among involved agencies; b) distill lessons learned and best practices while sharing methodologies; and c) provide a platform to raise and discuss issues on evaluation policy and practices. This forum was created as a result of an informal UNEG meeting that took place on 23 March 2003 in Paris."

"This is a collaborative working space to share summaries of interest and current areas of work on Impact Assessment and Monitoring & Evaluation in relation to Sustainable Livelihoods thinking and approaches, including current frameworks in use and key challenges and questions."

"The IOCE aims to become a platform for worldwide cooperation and partnership in evaluation, fostering the cross fertilisation of ideas, high professional standards and an open and global perspective among evaluators. The mission of the IOCE as stated in our constitution is: To help legitimate evaluation and support evaluation societies, associations and networks so that they can better contribute to good governance, effective decision making and strengthen the role of civil society. The IOCE believes that evaluation is best strengthened through national and regional organisations. Our membership is made up of organisations not individuals. As an international organisation, the IOCE is committed to cultural diversity, inclusiveness and to bringing together different evaluation traditions in ways that respect this diversity. Representatives from 24 evaluation associations and networks from around the world launched IOCE at an Inaugural Assembly in Lima, Peru in March 2003. Their vision was that collaboration between evaluation associations would strengthen evaluation worldwide."

International Iniative for Impact Evaluation

"In the 1990s an extremely successful strategy for capacity building in the area of monitoring and evaluating the quality of education was developed through the establishment of a Consortium of fifteen Ministries of Education known as the Southern and Eastern Africa Consortium for Monitoring Educational Quality (SACMEQ). SACMEQs mission is to assist educational planners and researchers to undertake studies of the quality of their education systems by working in a co-operative manner that allows them to share their experiences and to learn from each other. The network works closely with the International Institute for Educational Planning (IIEP) to co-ordinate the delivery of intensive training programmes focussed on the requirements of the research, and also to facilitate access to advanced technical knowledge and computer-based techniques."