CES Annual Report 2015-2016-EN - evaluationcanada.ca

Annual Report 2015-2016

Annual Report 2015-2016 1

CES BOARD OF DIRECTORS 2015-2016

EXECUTIVE

President Benoît Gauthier, CE

Vice-President Gail Vallance Barrington, CE

Treasurer Simon Roy, CE

Secretary Robert Chatwin, CE (CES-Nova Scotia Chapter)

Chair, Professional Learning Kate Woodman (CES-Alberta & Northwest Territories Chapter)

Chair, Communication & Marketing Réanne Kinsella, CE (CES-Newfoundland & Labrador Chapter)

Chair, Governance & Process Brenda Wedge (CES-Prince Edward Island Chapter)

Past President Larry Bremner, CE

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Board Members & Chapter Representatives

Réanne Kinsella, CE (CES-Newfoundland & Labrador Chapter)

Robert Chatwin, CE (CES-Nova Scotia Chapter)

Brenda Wedge (CES-Prince Edward Island Chapter)

Johann Jacob (Société québécoise d’évaluation de programme)

Sidiq Ali, CE (CES-Ontario Chapter)

Kathy Gerber, CE (CES-National Capital Chapter)

Denise Bélanger, CE (CES-Manitoba Chapter)

Wayne MacDonald (CES-New Brunswick Chapter)

Maureen Matthew, CE (CES-Saskatchewan Chapter)

Kate Woodman (CES-Alberta & Northwest Territories Chapter)

Sandra Sellick, CE (CES-BC-Y Chapter)

Editor, Canadian Journal of Program Evaluation

Robert Schwartz

CES Executive Director Rebecca Mellett

2 Annual Report 2015-2016

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

The year 2015-2016 has been exciting for the CES. Charged up after the Montréal Conference, we took on the second half of EvalYear with a flurry of projects and packed action plans. And we delivered!

In this note, I want to highlight a few key themes of 2015-2016. One fundamental thread is that the Canadian Evaluation Society would not be the striving professional association that it is without the amazing dedication of an army of volunteers who believe that we are collectively doing something important. Our call for volunteers in the fall of 2015 was highly successful. Allow me to mention members of the Board of Directors, members of Board working groups (including the Credentialing Board, the International Working Group, the Sponsorship Working Group, the Diversity Working Group, the Surveys Working Group, and the Web team). Equal mention goes to Presidents of Chapters and members of Chapter Boards, annual Conference host committee members, webinar presenters, individual volunteers supporting specific activities which are all essential to help keep our organization going. Hundreds of individuals who commit their time to the promotion and the improvement of evaluation in Canada are the basis of our success and they can count on our highly committed staff: special thanks to Nanci Lines, Lynn Burgess, and Bonnie James of Megram Consulting Services, and to Rebecca Mellett, CES’ formidable Executive Director.

Officer and chapter reports tell a detailed tale of our year. To me, the CES action in 2015-2016 has focused on the credentialing program, professional development, communication with members, advocacy, international presence, and governance.

While continuing to manage the Credentialed Evaluator program in an effective and efficient manner, the Vice-President contracted and supervised an independent evaluation of the program. The evaluators identified strengths and challenges of the program which are being picked up in an action plan to take the CE program to the next level.

The Professional Learning Committee has delivered an unprecedented number of webinars, developed an online platform for the delivery of training, piloted the development of four courses (with more to come), and maintained harmonious relationships with the chapters on the professional development front. These are major projects that will redefine the availability of relevant training of quality for evaluators, here and elsewhere. Members will benefit the most through reduced price and improved access to quality training offerings no matter where they live.

Related to professional learning, the Newfoundland and Labrador Chapter, with support from CES National, has organized a fabulous annual conference, with an intriguing theme that is anchored in local geography and culture. The 2016 conference has attracted delegates from several other countries and has been an opportunity to reflect, question, compare, and, well: learn.

Under the leadership of Robert Schwartz, the Canadian Journal of Program Evaluation published another year of high quality articles and practice notes, with great regularity. The CJPE now publishes articles on the CES website as they become available instead of waiting for full issues to be ready.

The CES Mentoring Initiative was launched. A continuation of the former Evaluation Mentoring Canada, it is now offered as a bilingual service for the benefit of all CES members.

Communications with members have been regular and improving. Website communications have significantly improved with the finalization of the development work started in 2014-2015. All CES


resources are now located on evaluationcanada.ca, using a development platform that will allow for evolving services. Members have access to a number of reserved resources, discounts and perks, commensurate with the investment they make when they pay their membership fees. The Communication and Marketing Committee has also organized scheduled communications with members regarding membership and credential renewals, and is working with the secretariat to improve telephone service, including bilingual service.

On the advocacy front, we have capitalized on every opportunity to promote evaluation. The CES steer-handled the publication of four texts in the December 2015 issue of Canadian Government Executive Magazine and maintain a relationship with this magazine for further publication; we made presentations about the CES work at various venues in Australia and in the United States, as well as with EvalConnex; we wrote to various officials (Prime Minister of Canada, President of the Treasury Board of Canada, Minister of Science of Canada, Executive Director of the Quebec Bureau de la révision permanente des programmes) and met with some other new and known evaluation partners (e.g., United Way, senior federal and provincial representatives).

Through our Past President, we have maintained an active international presence at the International Organization for Cooperation in Evaluation and EvalPartners. Larry has been a driving force behind the creation of the EvalIndigenous group of EvalPartners. We also held a successful call for expression of interest in international work and volunteering, thereby opening new doors for a number of members. We have continued our support to the Thailand Evaluation Network.

The CES as an organization also needs attention. We have completed a Strategic Plan for 2015-2018. As part of this exercise, we have adopted an inclusive definition for evaluation. The Governance and Process Committee has spent the year cleaning up the CES governance and operational policies and creating new policies and terms of reference where they were lacking. All of this work was collated in the first ever CES policy manual, a reference from now on in the management of the Society (and for many other evaluation societies, I would venture).

Finally, I am glad to end my term at the helm of the Society to the leadership of the new 2016-2018 President, Harry Cummings. Harry will bring to the CES a solid connection with the academic world as well as a deep understanding of evaluation work. I leave the CES in good hands.

Benoît Gauthier, CE

CES President


EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’S MESSAGE

My first year went by incredibly fast! As your first Executive Director, I had new ground to carve and enjoyed the flexibility and teamwork of the Board, Secretariat, Committees and Chapters as we collectively clarified roles and responsibilities. My top priority was to learn about and support CES’ organization, systems and leadership and I am happy to report that this has been accomplished in spades. It has been a true pleasure to work with such a dynamic, hard-working and harmonious national Board of Directors.

My appreciation of CES’ full strength and potentials grows as I get to know Committee members, Chapters and CES Members bit by bit. The Montréal Conference allowed me to meet many members in person, and the autumn Board meetings which were held in Saskatchewan offered the national Board and myself a chance to appreciate prairie perspectives and partnerships. As we sit in different parts of the country, my opportunity to meet the CES Secretariat in person was an important moment to cement our good rapport and work on service standards. Most of all, the tremendous knowledge, capacity and dedication of CES’ President Benoît Gauthier has made my tasks, and the organization, run smoothly.

The highlights of achievements in the past year included negotiating a few new services, benefits and perks just for members; consulting with Chapters and Members to launch the new Strategic Plan; advancing on a membership strategy; helping to develop CES’ new online learning platform; and finding new and better ways to collaborate virtually.

I am happy to say that I have signed on to continue as your Executive Director until 2017. Over time, I look forward to meeting all Chapters and expanding CES’ profile among evaluation partners and allies as part of your leadership team. Come find me in St. John’s!

Rebecca Mellett CES Executive Director


BOARD OF DIRECTORS REPORTS

Treasurer’s Report

The draft audited financial statements 2014-2015 for CES National were issued in December 2015. Based on the statements, the CES disposed of $599,650 (including a reserve of $200,000) in net assets on June 30th, 2015. Statements indicate (see Figure 1) that total revenues were of $ 447,906, while expenses were of $396,299 (including special projects). As shown in Figure 1, expenses had slightly increased while revenues had diminished in 2015, compared to 2014. It should be mentioned that revenues had been exceptionally high in 2014 due to unusually high revenues generated from the national conference.

Figure1:SummaryofCESFinancialPerformance(2010-2015)

312,745$

214,777$

348,043$

399,650$

419,299$ 379,452$ 387,495$ 396,299$419,888$

281,484$

520,761$

447,906$

2010-2011 2011-2012 2012-2013 2013-2014 2014-2015$0

$100,000

$200,000

$300,000

$400,000

$500,000

$600,000

$700,0002010-20112011-20122012-20132013-20142014-2015Reserve NetAssets Expenditures Revenues

For 2015-2016 (current year ending on June 30), revenues to end of April were of $307,554, and expenses were of $370,877. Assets totalled $560,063. The financial performance of the conference will impact these numbers. In all events, the positive financial position (assets well above $200K in reserve) will allow a deficit in the budget proposed for 2016-2017 for investments in special projects.

Simon Roy, CE

CES Treasurer


Vice President’s Report

The year 2015-2016 was an exciting and productive one for the Professional Designations Program (PDP).

PDP Evaluation

The first-ever evaluation of our program was commissioned and conducted between June 2015 and March 2016. After a thorough search process, the evaluation was awarded to the Claremont Evaluation Center at Claremont Graduate University under the direction of evaluators Dr. Stewart Donaldson and Dr. Leslie Fierro. The evaluation was intended to provide us with information to improve the design, resourcing, and outcomes of the PDP. It included a process evaluation in which both process/implementation and early outcomes data were gathered and the relationships between various program components and outcomes were explored.

A Steering Committee was established to provide input into the strategic direction of the evaluation and to support its credibility by reviewing methods, procedures, tools, and draft reports. Our sincere thanks goes out to the members of the committee, including:

§ Courtney Amo, CE

§ Shelley Borys, PhD, CE

§ Benoît Gauthier, CE

§ Jim McDavid, PhD

§ Emma Williams, PhD, CE

The evaluation report identified a number of positive findings, some areas of concern, and some recommendations for development. The full evaluation report and its executive summary are available on line in both English and French. Subsequently five Priority Teams were established to review the report. They looked at PDP administration, Professional Development & Maintenance, Credentialing Board Functioning, CE Promotion and the Cost Benefit/Value Proposition for the CE. Based on the teams’ feedback, a Draft Action Plan has been developed for discussion and implementation.

CE Training

Three training webinars on the CE were developed and presented as follows:

§ Credentialed Evaluator Program – Overview & Update (October 28, 2015)

§ The Road to your CE (November 18, 2015)

§ Keeping the Momentum Going – Your CE Maintenance (December 9, 2015)

These webinars are available on line to provide continued support to applicants.

Credentialing Board

The stalwart members of the Credentialing Board continue to play an essential role in the credentialing process and our thanks goes out to them for their ongoing commitment and support. An interim


meeting was held by conference call and webinar on February 3, 2016. At that time, members were trained on the new Review Dashboard. The upgraded system has been welcomed by all.

Credentialed Evaluator (CE) designation: as of May 24, 2016, 318 individuals had been awarded their CE designation from coast to coast to coast and there are currently 10 international CEs as well.

Figure2:NationalProfileofCESMembers,May2016(N=318CE;1,696members)

In addition, as of May 11, 2016, there were 146 CE applicants in the pipeline.

Upgrades to On-Line Database: over the past year, the new on-line system to improve the experience for individuals applying for their CE was finally implemented. The new system also makes it easier for existing CEs to update their profile with new training information to maintain their designation.

I want to thank the many individuals who make this program work: members of the Credentialing Board, ever passionate about credentialing and professional development; our esteemed President Benoît Gauthier, for his tireless support and encouragement (day or night); Rebecca Mellett, our Executive Director, for her smooth interface and quick uptake; and Nanci Lines, our Application Administrator, our key contact who keeps the program running. Finally, thanks to you, our CES members, for your ongoing support of this very important initiative.

Gail Vallance Barrington, PhD, CE

CES Vice President


Professional Learning Committee Report

The Professional Learning Committee (PLC) is responsible for providing educational opportunities to assist CES members and non-members in expanding their evaluation skills and knowledge, and for overseeing the Society’s professional development activities, ethical guidelines, and workshops. The work of the committee is also closely linked with CES’ professional designations program.

Committee Chair: Kate Woodman, PhD (CES-Alberta & NWT Chapter) Committee Member: Johann Jacob (SQEP) Committee Member: Sandra Sellick, CE (CES-British Columbia & Yukon Chapter) Committee Member: Brenda Stead, CE – to 2015 12 (CES-New Brunswick Chapter) Volunteer: Joan Kruger, CE (CES-Saskatchewan Chapter)

Overview

This was a year of transition for the committee and the board as we moved forward with the initiation of an online learning option for CES members and stakeholders. In alignment with the CES mission, Strategic Priority #2 (advance the professionalization of evaluation) and congruent with the principles of the Credentialed Evaluator designation, CES National has entered into a new business era with the development of an online Learning Management System (LMS). The purpose of this new educational direction is to extend the reach and provision of professional learning in evaluation.

The learning curve was steep; we explored business options, created a business plan, and consulted with the national and chapter boards. We were driven by the facts arising from a previous CES member survey and ongoing requests from members. In addition, the implementation of an intermediate course development project (to result in seven new intermediate learning courses) further inspired us. As a result of developing this on-line learning platform, evaluators have access to specialized training (provided in English and French) grounded in the standards and competencies of our profession as practiced in Canada. Our new learning platform is called: CES Learning Centre.

Key activities and achievements include:

§ CES Learning Centre: The creation of this online learning system for CES members and stakeholders will facilitate a new reach in the provision of evaluation course provision. The current suite of three in-person sanctioned courses (ESS, Logic Models, Survey Research) has for decades been the national presence of learning provision to our members. In addition, these courses have been an important revenue stream for Chapters. Today, four new intermediate level courses are under development and the ESS is being transitioned into an online course. CES plans the development of three to four additional intermediate courses in 2016-2017. The development of the online training platform will also facilitate the creation of new courses based on already available workshop offerings. Finally, CES members and stakeholders will have access to a roster of other online courses as provided by the LMS. With this enhanced professional learning capacity, Chapters have new opportunities to provide learning services to their members and stakeholders.

§ Essential Skills Series (ESS) re-design as an online course: working with the newly redesigned ESS course, Rebecca Mellett and Joan Kruger are creating an online, moderated version of this flagship course.


§ Intermediate-level training offerings: today CES has made available four new courses, developed in response to learning needs articulated by our members. The courses are: Evaluability Assessment; Evaluation Models and Theories; Data Quality; and, Quantitative Methods. In the upcoming year, we will develop an additional three or four intermediate courses. Special thanks to Sandra Sellick, PLC member who was our focal point for this special project, to Christine Frank’s team who provided Project Management and to the course designers who worked hard and against tough timelines to produce these quality courses.

§ CES Mentoring Initiative: this year we have transitioned the former Evaluation Mentoring Canada site to a fully functional initiative of the CES. Currently, only CES members can access this learning benefit, found at www.mentoring.evaluationcanada.ca. The site is bilingual – and thereby available to both French and English speaking members – and aligned with the CES competencies to support achieving and maintaining a CE designation.

§ Webinars: a robust schedule of one-hour webinars (free to CES members) was organized during the year, with three (of the thirteen) conducted in French1. We reached a new high, this year, with well over 100 registrants for a webinar; to accommodate all, and with the presenter’s willingness, this session was presented twice. Overall, we had excellent participation and are glad for the growing community of webinar enthusiasts. We are indebted to the webinar presenters who kindly shared their knowledge and expertise with the CES community:

o Marla Steinberg – Evaluating Knowledge Translation

o Gail Barrington – The CE: Program Overview & Update

o Gail Barrington – The Road to Your CE

o Gail Barrington – Keeping the Momentum Going – Your CE Maintenance

o Kristine Hoyak – Wayfinding Complex Adaptive Systems for Evaluators

o Serve Eric Yakeu – Évaluation systémique en situation post-conflit en République démocratique du Congo (RDC) / Systemic evaluation in post-conflict situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) – in French & English

o Richard Marceau – Les mots de l’évaluation: Une terminologie évaluative de qualité pour une communication efficace / Words of evaluation: a terminological dictionary to clarify communication in evaluation practice – in French & English

o Trish Paton – Learning with Twitter

o Benoît Gauthier and Simon Roy – Les cercles d’apprentissage pour le perfectionnement avancé en évaluation

o Natalie Kishchuk and Shelley Borys – Learning Circles for Advanced Professional Development in Evaluation

The CES webinar platform and associated Secretariat services continued to be open to Chapters for their use.

1 Note that three of the webinars were offered in both English and French, and one was offered twice due to large enrollment.


§ Chapter Engagement on PD: dialogue continued on the PD Discussion forum, which includes representatives from all Chapters, aimed at engaging Chapters on professional learning. In addition, Chapter Presidents and their board members were invited to participate in a President’s forum on the subject of the CES Learning Centre.

§ CES Professional Learning Committee Policy Development: Under the guidance of the Governance and Process Committee, the PLC contributed to the development of key policies relevant to our work, and including our development of a draft Volunteer Policy for the board. These polices were approved and are found in the CES’s new policy manual.

None of the accomplishments described above could have happened without the skilled and committed work of the PLC members and the ongoing and skilled support provided by Rebecca Mellett, CES ED. My deepest thanks to each of you!

Kate Woodman Chair, CES Professional Learning Committee


Communication and Marketing Committee Report

The Communication and Marketing committee is responsible for communication to members, the promotion of the Society and membership services.

Committee Chair: Réanne Kinsella, CE (CES-Newfoundland & Labrador) Committee Member: A. Sidiq (Sid) Ali, CE (CES-Ontario) Committee Member: Denise Belanger, CE (CES-Manitoba) Committee Member: Wayne MacDonald (CES-New Brunswick) Committee Member: Maureen Matthew, CE (CES-Saskatchewan)


§ Development of a CES Membership Strategy to help the CES to better engage, grow and diversify our membership (CES strategic priority #2). The membership strategy will provide an analytic framework to help guide the CES Board regarding decisions and changes to membership initiatives and policies. To date, our committee has completed the following:

o an environmental scan of promising practices in membership development; and

o a comparative assessment of professional associations regarding fees, benefits, services and membership structure.

§ Work is continuing on other fronts as our committee is currently tackling the following:

o a trend analysis and projections of CES membership past, present and future;

o a diversity profile of our membership (led by the Diversity Working Group);

o a review and analysis of membership categories (including new categories that could be implemented by the CES); and

o a survey of members (led by CES Executive Director and the Survey Working Group).

Members and chapters are currently being consulted on this important initiative as we move forward with overall analyses.

§ Development of a CES Communications Plan to support the work of the Communication and Marketing Committee. The plan is closely aligned with the CES Strategic Plan 2015-2018 and will support the achievement of our identified objectives over the next several years.

§ Improved member communications through automated and streamlined member notifications (membership renewals). We hope that this will increase efficiency and improve the quality of our ongoing communications with members.

§ New partnership with the Canadian Government Executive Magazine which will allow the CES to contribute regular articles and materials (a minimum of three, annually) to advocate for and promote evaluation to a much broader audience. The CES as well as some prominent evaluators were featured in the December and June issues (including our Committee Member, Sid Ali's article). Further articles will also be featured this year.

§ New promotional and advocacy tools such as a PowerPoint slide deck and a CES banner, added to the existing CES brochure and CE postcard, to support chapters and National representatives as


they spread the word about evaluation and the CES. We also launched our first CES infographic (highlighting facts about the C2015 conference) as we present members with regular tidbits of information to keep you in the loop regarding our Society and CES members.

§ Ongoing review of member benefits which resulted in the addition of two new benefits to members:

o Staples discount program; and

o Members-only access to the CES Mentoring Initiative

§ CES Resolutions in Support of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada were put forward, debated and adopted by the Board of Directors in May in support of the national Call to Action and standing for justice. The CES is committed to incorporating reconciliation in its values, principles, and practices.

I want to thank the Communication and Marketing team: Sid Ali, Denise Belanger, Wayne MacDonald and Maureen Matthew. Each has led a committee project or initiative mentioned in this report. It has been a true pleasure to work among this supportive and hardworking team. We also owe many, many thanks to Rebecca Mellett, CES Executive Director, for her invaluable insight, guidance and contributions to our committee's work this year.

I also wish to thank the many volunteers that helped to support the work of the CES and the Communication and Marketing committee during the last year (See below for a full list of volunteers). We are absolutely thrilled that so many CES members came forward and contributed so much to the CES projects and initiatives!

Réanne Kinsella, CE

Chair, CES Communication & Marketing Committee

WebTeam DiversityWorkingGroup SurveyWorkingGroup MembershipStrategyEmmanuelleGodbout-Gauthier(webmaster)MarcJohnson,CEBethSnow,CEJaniceRemai,CESylvieCantinAgnesDallison,CEStephanieMorrisonClaireBardNealeMacMillanSherryElnitsky,CE

LindaLee,CE(co-chair)DeniseBélanger,CE(co-chair)PreetiAsthanaLorraineClarke-RoeFerimaCouliblaly-ZerboHeatherGillisFaisalIslamSarahMarshallKatyPollock,CEMariaTendenciaCherylWhitelaw,CEJaneWhynotSheilaDavisJulieNadeau,CE

RebeccaMellett(lead)PreetiAsthanaEtienneBlanchetteSherylDavisKatyPollock,CESandraPoulin

RebeccaMellettandDeniseBélanger,CE(co-lead)MarjeAksliMaureenMatthew,CE


Governance and Process Committee Report

The Governance and Process Committee is responsible for overseeing and making recommendations to the Board of Directors regarding administrative matters, reviewing contracts administered by the CES, liaising with the CES Secretariat on administrative matters, and providing support to CES officers and other committees in relation to these responsibilities.

Committee Chair: Brenda Wedge (CES-Prince Edward Island) Committee Member: Kathy Gerber, CE (CES-National Capital) Committee Member: Robert Chatwin, CE (CES-Nova Scotia)

Key activities and achievements included the following:

§ CES Policy Coverage & Gaps: Continued with implementation of the strategy for reviewing and developing policies in light of the new bylaws adopted at the 2014 Annual General Meeting, the changes to the CES Board structure in the last several years, and the hiring of an Executive Director. During the year the committee was able to coordinate the review and development of 23 organizational policies, 7 governance policies and 10 terms of reference for committees and executive positions.

§ Review of Chapter Bylaws to identify any inconsistencies with National.

§ CES Awards: facilitated the award nomination process for Service to the CES and Contribution to Evaluation in Canada awards.

§ Facilitated the process for nomination of President for the period July 1, 2016 to June 30, 2018.

§ Contract review and oversight: participated in development of RFP’s and contracts:

o Conference speaker agreement template;

o Evaluation of the PDP;

o Instructional Design and Project Management;

o Evaluability Assessment;

o Evaluation Theories and Models; and

o Membership Survey.

§ Risk Management:

o CES Directors and Officers Insurance policy - assisted with the review, and

o General Commercial Liability insurance coverage – assisted with the review

I want to give a big thank-you to Rob and Kathy for their work over the past year on the G&P Committee. Thanks also to Benoît Gauthier and the rest of the Board for their guidance and advice. And finally, I want to thank Rebecca Mellett for assisting the work of the G&P committee.

Brenda Wedge Chair, CES Governance & Process Committee


Canadian Journal of Program Evaluation

The Canadian Journal of Program Evaluation seeks to promote the theory and practice of program evaluation and is published in English and French.

Editor-in-Chief: Robert Schwartz Associate Editor Francophone: Astrid Brousselle Associate Editor: Isabelle Bourgeois Book Review Editor: Jill Anne Chouinard Editorial Assistant: Emily Taylor


§ The Canadian Journal of Program Evaluation (CJPE) has published three issues in the past year including a special issue on Decolonizing International Development Evaluation.

§ The Journal has applied for and has been accepted by Thomson Reuters for an impact factor.

§ CJPE co-hosted a promotional booth with the Canadian Evaluation Society at the American Evaluation Association (AEA) conference in Chicago during November 2015.

§ As an example of the far-reaching interest in the Journal, a Latin American organization [CAF] has translated an article on “State, Public Governance and Development in Latin America” by John Mayne to be freely distributed electronically with 2,000 print copies for use by universities and public policy makers in member countries: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Spain, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Portugal, Dominican Republic, Trinidad and Tobago, Uruguay and Venezuela.

§ The CJPE will continue to celebrate authors’ achievements this year with the second annual award presentation during the CES National Conference. The Canadian Journal of Program Evaluation Award will be presented to the author(s) of the best journal article from 2015-2016.

The CES would like to thank Robert Schwartz and the entire Journal team for their ongoing contributions to the Canadian Journal of Program Evaluation.


Past President’s Report

As Past-President, the past year has been a busy one representing CES as Treasurer and Executive member of International Organization for Cooperation in Evaluation (IOCE) as well as being on the EvalPartners Management Group (EPMG). IOCE was established in 2003 and represents international, national, sub-national and regional Voluntary Organizations for Professional Evaluation (VOPEs) worldwide. It strengthens international evaluation through the exchange of evaluation methods and promotes good governance and recognition of the value evaluation has in improving peoples’ lives. IOCE’s vision: evaluations are widely used, leading to evidence-based decision making, effective policies, good governance, and a strong role for civil society. For the year ending December 31, 2015 IOCE administered grants in excess of $700,000 USD.

As you are aware, 2015 was the International Year of Evaluation which culminated in Kathmandu, Nepal at the Global Evaluation Forum in November 2015. IOCE’s initiative on evaluation professionalization has come to fruition following discussions at the Global Forum in Kathmandu. A working group has been established and a professionalization repository has been created with the current library of documents to which VOPEs can contribute and refer. IOCE also updated its Strategic Plan in a process which provided members with opportunities for input and feedback.

As part of the Global Forum, EvalPartners formally launched networks including EvalGender+, EvalSDGs, EvalYouth, the Parliamentarian Forum, and EvalIndigenous. In addition, the Global Evaluation Agenda 2016-2020 was ratified. I believe it has been important to have the CES voice at these discussions. One result has been the formal launch of EvalIndigenous at the Global Evaluation Forum. As Chair of EvalIndigenous I am very excited about bringing together Indigenous evaluators, both academics and practitioners, to contribute to the body of knowledge that would otherwise not be documented. The EPMG met again in New York in March 2016 to discuss the implementation of Agenda 2016-2020, and the role of the networks in addressing the agenda.

Members of the International Working Group included, Denise Belanger, Karen Rodrigue-Gervais, Marie Gervais, Joan Kruger, Jean-Serge Quesnel, and Andy Rowe, Chaired by the Past-President. This year has also seen the International Working Group (IWG) post a call for interest in international volunteer opportunities on the CES website. This has resulted in recommendations from IWG to the Board for CES representatives on the EvalPartners Networks. Our representatives are: Kim van der Woerd, EvalIndigenous; Sara Marshall, EvalYouth; Keiko Kuji-Shikatani, EvalGender+; Andy Rowe, EvalSDGs; Joan Kruger, professionalization; and Karen Rodrigue-Gervais, Réseau francophone des évaluateurs émergents. Thank you to the IWG members and the CES network representatives for helping CES meet our international commitments.

The CES was once again represented on the board of the Joint Committee on Standards for Educational Evaluation (JCSEE). Brenda Stead served as the CES representative to the JCSEE, with diligence, until her term ended in December 2015. She was succeeded as the representative by Sandra Sellick whose first duty was to participate in the spring meeting and who will continue in the role into 2016-2017.

During her term, Brenda Stead presented the CES perspective on the JCSEE and collaborated on key JCSEE priorities and administrative matters. She also promoted the three sets of JCSEE Standards and related work through the JCSEE Research Forum and promoted ongoing dialogue at other events. During the past year, the JCSEE published the revised Classroom Assessment Standards for PreK-12 Teachers through Amazon/Kindle and a print publication is currently under consideration for the future.


Without doubt, a highlight of the past year for the CES was the creation of v3 of the French document: Document de référence en français à l’usage des organismes d’évaluation de programme sur The Program Evaluation Standards Third Edition. In November 2015, this work was made available to CES and JCSEE members and World affiliated member organizations. My thanks to both Brenda and Sandra for their work on the JCSEE.

Gail Vallance Barrington not only served as national Vice President, she also represented CES on the Consortium of Universities for Evaluation Education (CUEE). CUEE is a collaborative partnership among universities, government and the Canadian Evaluation Society for the purpose of building capacity in graduate-level education and training in Canada. CUEE is a voluntary association of institutions and programs that is dedicated to expanding graduate level opportunities for evaluation education and training across Canada. CUEE is exploring how to collaborate with CES on providing internships to students in the field of evaluation. There has been a continued partnership with CES to prepare articles in the Canadian Government Executive Magazine. CUEE is currently planning a thematic segment of CPJE on teaching evaluation as well as participating in the annual symposium of the Performance and Planning Exchange (PPX) in Ottawa in May 2016. This year saw CUEE web pages, policy documents and Annual Report translated into French. Furthermore, CUEE is currently working on the second iteration of the Graduate Certificate Program in Evaluation which is delivered in partnership with the University of Victoria and Carleton.

The Canadian Evaluation Society Educational Fund (CESEF) is an independent organization that was originally created by the Canadian Evaluation Society in 1990. In 2006 it became officially registered as a Canadian Charity. The CESEF partners with the CES to advance mutual goals in developing the field of program evaluation. The CESEF provides scholarships, awards, and educational opportunities to Canadians wishing to further their knowledge within the field of program evaluation. One such award is the Student Excellence Advancing Evaluation Knowledge (SEEK) award. Congratulations to Sarah Sangster from the University of Saskatchewan for winning in 2016. Dr. Karen Lawson nominated Sarah for the award. Her paper impressed the adjudicators for its innovative approach to evaluating a pilot project. Congratulations are also extended to Beth Peddle from the University of Ottawa who received an Honorable Mention in this year’s competition, nominated by Dr. Katherine Moreau.

Having completed my second year as Past President and my last year on the CES Board, there are so many individuals I would like to thank for their hard work, support and friendship when I was the Manitoba Chapter representative, Chair of Member Services, Executive Member and in my roles as President and Past President. I believe CES continues to strengthen as an organization thanks to the hard work of the Chapter representatives on the Board and the CES Executive. I would like to express my appreciation to Benoît Gauthier for his advice and support and to Rebecca Mellett our CES Executive Director. I have been fortunate to meet and work with new colleagues on the IOCE Board and EvalPartners Management Group. Lastly, without the support and guidance I received from Lynn Burgess and her colleagues at Megram I could not have effectively played my role as IOCE Treasurer.

I believe we should all be excited about the role CES can play internationally. These are exciting times in evaluation and I have been very fortunate to be part of it. Thank you.

Larry Bremner, CE

CES Past President


CES CHAPTER REPORTS

CES-Newfoundland and Labrador Chapter Report

The Chapter Executives include:

President: Patricia King, CE Vice President and Chair of Professional Development: Laura May Treasurer: Chantal Walsh Dodge Secretary: Nicole Shea Chair of Communications and Membership: Nicole Power CES Board of Directors Representative: Réanne Kinsella, CE Past President: Monique Campbell, CE Director at Large (Not for Profit sector): Tracy Rideout Director at Large (student liaison): Olivia Cleary Director at Large (student liaison): Sandra Parsons Director at Large (Labrador region): John Graham Director at Large: Ashley Forbes, CE Director at Large: Susan Hollett, CE Director at Large: Sara O’Reilly Director at Large: Jennifer Smith

Key events and activities over the past year include:

Professional Learning - during the last year our Chapter shifted to shorter, half-day sessions or webinars which resulted in higher participation rates. The following professional development sessions were provided:

§ Performance Measurement

§ Survey Use for Quality Improvement

§ LEAN

§ Improving Productivity in Document Writing

§ Data visualization (this webinar was delivered using CES National’s webinar platform – a first for our Chapter and funded by the infusion funds provided by CES National)

Once again, our Chapter also hosted a one-day conference in June 2015 - “Evaluation in a Networked Society: Connectivity, Innovation and Use”. The event featured various roundtable discussions, workshops and an interactive presentation (via videoconferencing) with CES President, Benoît Gauthier. The CES-NL AGM was also held during this full-day event.

Networking – CES-NL hosted two successful networking events including:

§ a coffee break to launch our Professional Development calendar;

§ a career day luncheon organized specifically for students;


Communications and Membership

§ CES-NL is now on twitter with a total of 155 followers. Twitter has allowed our Chapter to interact daily with others involved in evaluation and research, throughout Canada and internationally.

§ Membership numbers within our Chapter have remained consistent with previous years.

Governance – Our Chapter finances remain stable as we continue to offer regular professional development opportunities. CES-NL also established its own PayPal account this year in order to improve our ability to process member payments.

CES-CESEF Student Case Competition – members of our executive once again coached two teams from Memorial University in the CES-CESEF Student Case Competition. We will be cheering on one of these teams as they compete in the final round at C2016!

2016 CES Conference – Our Chapter Executive, as well as many of our chapter members, have contributed countless volunteer hours during the last year in planning the current CES National Conference. We are so excited to welcome the CES and conference delegates to our beautiful province!


CES-Nova Scotia Chapter Report

Board of Directors

President: Nancy Carter, CE Vice-President: Kathryn Graves Membership Chair: Andrealisa Belzer, CE Program Chair: Katherine Blunden Treasurer: Rob Assels Secretary: Karen Pyra, CE Technology Chair: Kevin Randall National Council Representative/ Past President: Rob Chatwin, CE Member at Large: Florence Tarrant

Thank you to all Board Members for their ongoing dedication to the Chapter.


Members: Membership has been stable at approximately 60 active members throughout the past year. The Nova Scotia Chapter has 12 credentialed evaluators. We would like to express gratitude to our members who continue to support the CES by participating in events, volunteering on planning and event committees, and providing feedback.

Report on CES-NS Chapter Strategic Priorities 2015 -2018: The board has recently developed a new strategic plan to take us into 2018. The chapter has been able to deliver and accomplish many items that support the newly established strategic directions, which cover three priority areas:

§ Strategic Direction #1: Building Capacity

§ Strategic Direction #2: Creating Awareness & Engagement

§ Strategic Direction #3: Leadership & Innovation

The next step for the Board will be to define specific action items and corresponding timelines.

Professional Development: During the last year, our events continue to be attended by non-members and members. In 2015-2016 we offered four professional development opportunities including:

§ Essential Skills Series, facilitated by Nova Scotian Credentialed Evaluators

§ Theory of Change Workshop facilitated by Kaireen Chaytor

§ Project Management for Evaluators facilitated by Jim Pyra

§ Evaluation in the Face of Complexity facilitated by Jonathan Morrel

The Chapter also sponsored “Issues in Public Sector Evaluation: a presentation of student issue papers” which was a joint venture with Dalhousie University’s School of Public Administration and the Centre for Advanced Management Education. This session allows CES members to attend student presentations on key evaluation issues and concepts.


Governance: The Chapter continues to be in a strong financial position which allows us to provide support to members to attend the CES annual conference, provide professional development opportunities for members and students at a reduced cost and sponsor the National conference (through support for attendees and hospitality suites) and the CESEF Student Casse Competition. As we embark on the 2016-17 year we look forward to continuing to work toward meeting our strategic priorities through the work of our dedicated board volunteers, partnerships with stakeholders and membership engagement.


CES-New Brunswick Chapter Report

The CES-NB Chapter Board is comprised of the following members:

President: Courtney Amo, CE Vice-President and Representative to CES Board (as of Jan/2016): Wayne MacDonald Past President and Representative to CES Board (to Dec/2015): Brenda Stead, CE Secretary: Julie Nadeau Treasurer: Kelly Rodgers-Sturgeon Member-at-Large: Reni Han Member-at-Large: Katerina Lysenko Member-at-Large: Brigitte Maicher Member-at-Large: Anouk Utzschneider

The NB Chapter is a small, bilingual chapter, whose activities are guided by a Strategic Plan which focuses the Board’s efforts on a small number of strategic opportunities:

§ Forging Partnerships: with stakeholders and evaluation users, and with other organizations, including the other CES chapters in the Atlantic Region

§ Increasing Visibility: through strategic communication, branding, involvement

§ Building Membership: by reaching out to the Francophone community, to the university community, to the evaluation user community

§ Developing our Community of Practice: through ongoing professional development, tools and resources

These opportunities are pursued through sub-committees, chaired by CES-NB Chapter Board members, and supported by board members and other volunteers.

The Chapter’s main challenge continues to be maintaining sufficient membership to support the ongoing sustainability of the Chapter. Membership is currently under twenty. Significant ongoing efforts will need to be placed in order to grow membership. New Brunswick is the only bilingual province and there is no critical mass for membership due to geographic spread. In addition, a new government, budget restrictions, and program review have impacted membership growth. GNB emphasis on process efficiencies, cost savings, and Lean Six Sigma has placed evaluation at a relative disadvantage.

The accomplishments of the Chapter in the last year were as follows:

Strategic Planning workshop (April 2015); A half-day follow-up session to the Strategic Plan was held on May 14, 2016, to report on progress and plan for priority actions for 2016-17with Strategic Plan finalized and adopted in June 2015;

Annual bilingual Learning Event and AGM in April 2016 (Université de Moncton, Evaluation and its Applications in the Economic and Social Fields), the event attracted close to 50 participants. Committee reports were tabled at AGM and new and extended board members were confirmed.

The Chapter transitioned its website, to be temporarily embedded into the National site.


Representatives to the CES national board brought forward chapter needs. This included rationale for a request for a one-time lump sum to support the chapter in a bilingual learning event and marketing of CES, and options for CES membership categories. Brenda made major contribution to CES national committees including the Professional Learning Committee (PLC) and the Joint Committee on Standards for Educational Evaluation (JCSEE), while Wayne (as the new representative after December) joined the Communications and Marketing Committee, and was the lead for the CES/CUEE/CJPE interface with the Canadian Government Executive Magazine. Further information can be found in the committee reports.


CES-Prince Edward Island Chapter Report

The CES-PEI Chapter Executives for the 2015/2016 fiscal year are:

President & CES National Representative: Brenda Wedge Vice-President & Chair, Special Initiatives: Sandra Currie Secretary: Angela Gallant Treasurer: Denise Spenceley Director, Chair, Membership & Communications: Paul Chaulk, CE Past President: Cindy Wood, CE Director, Chair, Professional Development: Jennifer LaRosa


CE Designation: During the past year we were extremely pleased to see two of our members Paul Chaulk and Allan MacKinnon receive their CE bringing our complement of CE’s in PEI to four.

Professional Learning: The CES – PEI Chapter hosted a one-day professional development opportunity on October 1, 2015 entitled, “Analyzing and Presenting Information for Impact,” featuring leading provincial, national and international speakers, Stephanie Evergreen, Benoit Gauthier, and Dr. Tracy Deyell. The professional development conference provided over 80 participants with the tools to organize, analyze and present information from a variety of sources for briefings, research, evaluation and other purposes.

Annual General Meeting – Our AGM was held in January and included a presentation from member, Denise Lewis Fleming, on the topic “Evaluation’s Fit and Perceived Value in Public Sector Accountability Frameworks.”

Communications and Networks: During the past year the Chapter hosted their annual Christmas social where seventeen members and guests enjoyed a wonderful evening filled with great conversation, food and wine. Members are being profiled on a bi-monthly basis in our Chapter newsletter and a networking event was held in May.

Governance and Process: The Chapter updated their bylaws and Policy and Procedure Manual this past year.

Recognition: During the Chapter AGM, Cindy Wood, CE, was recognized for her leadership as President over the past several years.

Member support: We were pleased to be able to provide four $400 conference subsidies to PEI members attending the CES 2016 National Conference in Newfoundland and Labrador.


Société québécoise d’évaluation de programme Report

The Board of Directors of the Société québécoise d'évaluation de programme (SQEP) Chapter is made up of the following:

President: Olivier Sossa Vice President, Montréal: Sylvie Girard Vice President, Québec: Martin Dorion Treasurer: Sandrine Wettach Secretary: Marie-Michelle Racine Past President: Pernelle Smits Director and Representative to CES Board: Johann Jacob Director: Marie Gervais, CE Director: Marie-Pierre Arsenault Director: Jérôme Gandin, CE Director: Vincent Gomez Director: Juan-David Gonzales

Key events of the past year include:

Professional Development and Training

§ A Linkedin SQEP group was created by the professional development committee.

§ SQEP helped organize a day of “Exchange on Evaluating University Learning Programs in Québec.”

§ SQEP collaborated closely with the Québec Network of Evaluation Academics (ReQUE).

§ In May 2015 SQEP hosted the annual CES Conference, which brought together 524 participants, including 124 who attended pre-conference workshops.

§ A partnership agreement for training was confirmed with the Centre for Liaison on Psychosocial Intervention and Prevention (CLIPP).

§ Training was offered in Montréal and in Québec City, drawing 114 participants for the following topics: o Event Mapping o Analyzing and Interpreting Quantitative Data o Survey Techniques o Introduction to Developmental Evaluation o Program evaluation training offered by CLIPP


Communications and Membership

§ An electronic Bulletin was published in May 2015, with Sylvie Demers as editor; Sandrine Wettach was named as editor in November 2015.

§ The Annual Forum 2015 drew 97 participants. Although it was a smaller format, participants indicated high satisfaction with the event. Twenty-two new members were recruited.

§ SQEP’s international work continued, in collaboration with the Réseau francophone de l'évaluation (RFÉ), IOCE, and EvalPartners, offering a strategic position extending beyond the Francophonie. Marie Gervais, Vice President, plays key roles in these fora.

§ Work is ongoing to revamp our website, which should be ready in the fall of 2016.

Governance

§ SQEP is working on the creation of a new strategic plan for 2016-2021.

§ The new Expense Policy for reimbursing expenses of Chapter Board members was approved in February 2016.

SQEP membership is now at 324 members, slightly below last year's levels. Two thirds of members are public servants in federal and provincial governments, with the other members working mostly in health and education (including university) networks as well as in the private sector.


CES-National Capital Chapter Report

The NCC Board members for 2015-16 include:

President: Jane Whynot Vice President, Professional Development: Judy Lifshitz, CE Vice President, Networking: Julie Witmer Vice President, Communications: Emmanuelle Godbout-Gauthier Treasurer: Raimi Osseni Secretary: Nicole Michaud CES Board of Directors Representative: Kathy Gerber, CE Past President: Simon Roy, CE Member: Melissa Thornton Member: Mary Kay Lamarche (ex officio) Student Member: Erica Kaneza (ex officio) Member: Ann Routhier (ex officio)

NCC Board elections are currently underway with four new Board members joining in June 2016.


Professional Learning: the Chapter offered:

§ Two English and one French ESS sessions.

§ An intermediate level workshop was conducted in June 23, 2015 with Patricia Rogers, on the subject of How to Conduct Evaluations on a Shoestring Budget.

§ Another intermediate level workshop is planned for the end of May 2016 with Gill Westhorp and Kim Grey from Australia on qualitative methods in realistic evaluation.

Networking: members had the opportunity to attend various networking events:

§ A number of breakfast sessions were held throughout the year. Some of the topics covered during the breakfasts included: An Evolving Discussion on Promoting Utility (June 2015), Developmental Evaluation (DE) in the Context of Government (July 2015), International Perspectives on Evaluation (November 2015), and Considerations for Policy Renewal & the Results Agenda (May 2016).

§ An Annual Learning Event was held in February – this year's event featured a keynote presentation by Liz Weaver from the Tamarck Institute.

Awards and Recognition: The NCC Chapter awarded its annual Karl Boudreau award for Leadership in Evaluation. Congratulations to our well-deserved recipient, Martine Perrault!

Member Survey: Finally, the NCC Chapter is ready to launch a survey of its members (distribution in May 2016) to help identify training needs and to seek input into future Chapter directions.

Many thanks are extended to the NCC Board members who have heavily supported the Chapter, as well as to other volunteers who have been involved in the work of CES NCC.


CES-Ontario Chapter Report

The CES Ontario Chapter Board of Directors and Officers which were elected and appointed as of the Ontario Chapter Annual General Meeting on November 5, 2015 in Toronto included:

President: Nikhat Rasheed Treasurer: Daria Smeh Secretary: Ashraful Hasan Past President: Terry Spencer CES Board of Directors Representative: A. Sidiq (Sid) Ali, CE Co-Chairs, Professional Development Committee: Natalie Sibille, Nick Petten Co-Chairs, Membership Committee: Tommy Tam, Natalie Ceccato, Tamara Mohammed* Director: Kelsen Chau* Director: Racquel Smith* Director: Shirley Von Sychowski* Administrative Support: Kaitlyn Kochany * = indicates resignation/ leave of absence during 2015-16


Over the past year, the Ontario Chapter has focused on three goals: strengthening its internal policies and processes, providing greater value and learning opportunities for members, and looking for opportunities to generate additional revenue to compensate for the significant loss of reserves stemming from the 2013 national conference.

Strengthening internal policies and processes

The Chapter continued to strengthen its governance and internal processes by approving a number of governance and operational policies; putting together an annual budget and monitoring budget-to-actuals regularly; reviewing contracts; completing an annual financial audit and using promising new practices such as web-based interviewing and matrix-based ranking for Requests for Proposals processes.

Providing greater value and learning opportunities for members

The Chapter supported communities of practice by supporting or sponsoring other evaluation groups in Ontario such as Evaluation Café, university/ college student conferences/ seminars and the CESEF student case competition. Chapter committees worked closely together to promote professional development at various other events including partner events, student networking and mentoring events, the AGM and learning events.

Starting 2016, the Chapter extended a New Practitioner & Student (NPS) discount for eligible ESS attendees. However, we still need to work with CES to determine the implementation of the New Practitioner category for new and/or renewing members via the secretariat.

The Chapter undertook an extensive RFP process to secure intermediate and/or advanced third-party professional development training for our members. A five-person review team reviewed, ranked, and


interviewed the top bidders. Details regarding the RFP award will be released at the Ontario Chapter Annual General Meeting on June 22, 2016 in Toronto.

Generating additional revenue

With regards to generating additional revenue, the Chapter piloted the delivery of the Essential Skills Series to clients requesting on-site delivery for their employees. This was successful and in order to further facilitate this, the Chapter released a Request for Qualifications to retain more ESS facilitators.

Finance Highlights

The Chapter’s finances are overseen by the treasurer, and she is responsible for the fiscal monitoring of the Chapter. The treasurer led the enhancement of the board’s fiscal capabilities through:

§ the development of annual budget

§ supporting cost analyses, pricing and budgeting for customized on-site client ESS delivery

§ obtaining an organizational credit card and approving a credit card policy to monitor its use

§ obtaining an independent HST number for the Chapter

§ initiating secure electronic funds transfer capability and a full suite of e-banking options

§ initiating the use of online data management to complete the organizational audit

§ recommending process improvements for bookkeeping including monitoring variances and recommending corrective actions as appropriate

At the time of writing this report, the CES Ontario FY 2015 Audit was being initiated.

Professional Development Highlights

The Chapter’s Professional Development Committee works to offer learning opportunities for members and non-members. This year, the Chapter:

§ offered CES sanctioned Essential Skills Series workshop five times (July 2015, August 2015, November 2015, March 2016 and May 2016)

§ conducted cost analyses to update ESS pricing and participated in the annual budgeting process

§ developed and implemented two new policies: hardship policy and refund policy

§ recruited experienced instructors/facilitators interested in joining our team of adult educators through a Request For Qualifications

§ prepared and participated in the development of a Request for Proposals process to launch new intermediate and advanced evaluation courses for members

§ recruited potential clients for on-site ESS delivery

Membership Highlights

The Chapter maintained a membership of approximately 350 paid members in good standing, and:

§ convened its 19th Annual General Meeting on November 5th, 2015 attended by 50+ members

§ hosted two workshops for our members: ‘Adventures in Evaluation’ and ‘Creative Approaches to Facilitation’ (graphic facilitation and LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY®)


§ hosted a networking event for new practitioners and students on careers in evaluation

§ partnered to promote a webinar ‘Translating Evaluation Findings Into Action’ for members

§ hosted a social event for ESS participants and members

§ participated in the annual budgeting process

Volunteerism

CES Ontario runs on thousands of hours of volunteer power. A heartfelt thanks to all CES Ontario board members, contractors and volunteers who are committed to the vision and mission of the organization. Our volunteers contribute their time, energy, capability and good humour to our efforts.


CES-Manitoba Chapter Report

The CES Manitoba Chapter Executive include:

President: Marianne Krawchuk, CE Past President: Natalie Baydack, CE Vice-President: Gerry Kaplan Treasurer: Barry Warrack Secretary: Tina Sorenson CES Board of Directors Representative: Denise Belanger, CE Professional Development: Marianne Krawchuk, CE Member at Large: Amy Richmond, CE Member at Large: Dino Altieri Honourary Member: Andrew Buchel, CE Honourary Member: Laurie Ringaert Honourary Member: Meagan Valdmanis-Miller


Professional Learning & Collaborations:

§ The CES-MB has continued its luncheon series with two successful events, including Ethics in Evaluations, and SROI results on a Walking School Bus/Breakfast program offered by a community-based organization in Winnipeg.

§ CES-MB partnered with United Way Winnipeg to offer Evaluation Foundations for Community Based Organizations. It was a well-attended four-day series focused on evaluation theory, design, tools and utilization.

§ For the fourth consecutive year, we partnered with United Way Winnipeg on its evaluation tools/methods workshop series. Topics this year include logic models, interviews and focus groups, survey questionnaire design, and engaging special populations.

§ CES-MB was part of “The Gathering” conference offered by CCEDNet in October 2015. We offered an opportunity for participants to “speed-network” with five evaluation groups in Winnipeg to learn about services offered, and for organizations/groups/individuals to talk about their work, and learn about the needs within the sector.

§ We have also continued to explore opportunities to work collaboratively with non-profit organizations and universities in Manitoba.

Governance & Board Operations

§ CES MB has recruited new Board members and currently has 12 people on the Executive (up from 9 last year). This has allowed for new ideas and increased energy and activity for CES MB.

§ The Chapter is financially stable and continues to be in a good position. This allows us to continue to offer numerous professional development and networking opportunities at low or no cost to participants.


CES-Saskatchewan CES Chapter Report

The CES Saskatchewan Chapter Executive include:

President: John Marshall Past President: Frankie Jordan, CE Vice-President: Vacant Treasurer and CES Board of Directors Representative: Maureen Matthew, CE Secretary: Joan Kruger, CE Member at Large: Debbie Ross Member at Large: Joshua Freistadt Member at Large: Kristin Gushuliak Member at Large: Lisa Jewell, CE


Professional Learning: the chapter offered a number of Lunch and Learns sessions throughout the year:

§ September 2015 – Overview of the Credentialed Evaluator designation, which included a Skype connection between participants in Regina and Saskatoon. We were fortunate to have two members of the CE Board, Frankie Jordan and Joan Kruger, on hand to discuss the process and where applicants seem to have continuing difficulties in preparing their submissions.

§ October 2015 – A workshop on NVivo, facilitated by the University of Saskatchewan’s Social Sciences Research Laboratories.

§ February 2016 – Ethics and Evaluation, led by Lisa Jewell and Karen Lawson. which included a Skype connection between Saskatoon and Regina

Saskatchewan had the opportunity to host the National CES Board at the end of November 2015. Board members offered two workshops: After Data Analysis delivered by Gail Barrington, and Survey Research Methods delivered by Simon Roy. Using the membership development grant, the sessions were free and attracted 40 individuals from various sectors. While most were not CES members, many were interested in CES and our activities. Saskatchewan Executive Members arranged for meetings with various government and university officials to discuss how CES could support their evaluation initiatives. While the workshops were being conducted, CES President Benoit Gauthier and Executive Director Rebecca Mellett along with Frankie Jordan met with Doug Moen, Deputy Minister to the Premier, and his Executive Assistant Gina Alexander. Following this meeting, CES President and Executive Director, along with Joan Kruger, John Marshall and Kristin Gushuliak met with the Dean of Social Work, Dr. Judy White, from the University of Regina. Finally CES Saskatchewan hosted a lunch for workshop participants, CES Saskatchewan members and Board members as a ‘meet and greet’. While a busy day, the opportunity was an excellent way for CES National Board to meet with CES members in Saskatchewan.

The CES-Saskatchewan Annual General Meeting will be held on June 16, 2016. We have had success by combining the AGM with a professional development activity. This year we will be offering Seven Habits of Highly Utilized Evaluation led by Kylie Hutchinson from British Columbia.

Financially, our chapter is stable and we are in the fortunate situation of being able to continue to offer professional development programs at cost or with a small loss, primarily as a service to our


members. However we are looking for opportunities to increase our revenue stream and/or partner with other agencies and chapters to do so.

Congratulations to:

§ Sarah Sangster, University of Saskatchewan, on winning the 2016 CES/CESEF Student Excellence advancing Evaluation Knowledge (SEEK) Award. She will receive this award at the National Conference in St. John’s in June. As well, congratulations to the University of Saskatchewan team who won the Student Evaluation Case Competition at the 2015 National Conference and is one of three finalists in 2016. Both of these awards can be contributed to the excellent work of Dr. Karen Lawson, College of Arts and Science, University of Saskatchewan.

§ Giselle Patrick from Saskatoon who was named as the CES-SK member whose registration fees for the 2016 CES National Conference will be covered by CES National. In addition, Giselle will receive $575 from CES-SK to further support her attendance at the conference.


CES-Alberta & Northwest Territories Chapter Report

The 2015–2016 Board of Directors:

President: Trish Paton Past President: Tracy With, CE Secretary-Treasurer: Judith Krajnak Director, National Council: Kate Woodman PD Coordinator, Calgary: Evelyn Valge, CE PD Coordinator, Calgary: Jasper Buys PD Coordinator, Edmonton: Scott Christian Membership Coordinator: Jasper Buys Director, Advocacy: Bethan Kingsley Website Coordinator: Shelby Corley, CE Directors-at-Large: Dorothy Pinto, Siegrid Deutschlander, Grace Shen Tu, Kakali Majumdar Non-Executive Member Administrative Assistant: Sandra Hand


§ Monthly Chapter council meetings inclusive of the AGM on September 18, 2015 with three well-attended workshops provided by CES President Benoit Gauthier and Treasurer Simon Roy. In addition, the chapter hosted two Christmas luncheons for members (in Edmonton and Calgary).

§ Implemented a board strategic planning session in March 2016 to establish current and identified new priorities and plan for key events. The event was held in Red Deer, to accommodate members from both Edmonton and Calgary, ensuring excellent participation. The Board voted in favor of organizing the CES Conference 2018.

§ Delivered several ESS sessions in both Edmonton and Calgary, including the first session in Fort McMurray. Two focused sessions were delivered for GOA employees and one included a fifth day (held some time after the training), for participants to discuss skills learned/ implemented as a result of the training. In addition, ESS sessions were held as general offerings for local evaluators in both Edmonton and Calgary. Finally, and contributed to by the special PD workshops/ webinars offered, two working groups of CE applicants (in Calgary and Edmonton) have developed to support one another across the process through to completion of the application.

§ Evaluation Café continues to be well attended with events in both Calgary and Edmonton. New this year was a “virtual” Evaluation Café was held in December with excellent attendance. Drawing on evaluation expertise that addresses issues of interest, the events include networking, a short presentation, and sponsored munchies. We continue to use the Meet Up platform for communication and it’s working well.

§ We are making strides in the utilization of social media to disseminate awareness and learning. Currently, we have hosted “tweet chats” and Trish Paton (President) delivered a CES webinar on Learning With Twitter that was highly attended by members across Canada.

§ We continue to support the Alberta Research Ethics Community Consensus Initiative (ARECCI). We continue to support the Case Competition and a Hospitality Suite for the upcoming St. John’s Conference (2016).


British Columbia & Yukon CES Chapter Report

CESBCY Chapter Council Members as of June 2016

President: Sarah Farina Vice President: Jasmina Fatic Treasurer: Helen Hsu, CE Secretary: Jennifer Hall CES Board of Directors Representative: Sandra Sellick, CE Past President: Rob Malatest, CE Member at Large: Christina Chociolko (Membership) Member at Large: Penny Cooper, CE Member at Large: Beth Snow, CE Member at Large: Marla Steinberg, CE Marketing & Communication [Ex Officio]: Brian McGowan IT Specialist [Ex Officio]: Michael Bhopal Student Coordinator [Ex Officio]: Michelle Naimi BC Interior Coordinator [Ex Officio]: Kate Harris Lower Mainland Area Co-Coordinator [Ex Officio]: Kristine Hoyak Lower Mainland Area Co-Coordinator [Ex Officio]: Elayne Vlahaki Vancouver Island Coordinator [Ex Officio]: Shilpa Soni Yukon Coordinator [Ex Officio]: Paul Kishchuk

Key Events and activities over the past year include:

Professional Development:

§ Five new regional coordinators were appointed in December 2016 to replace retiring coordinators and fill vacancies. Several sessions were scheduled from January through March and facilitated by Sandra Sellick to provide orientation and resources for coordinators in planning, budgeting, and hosting learning opportunities for members and potential members.

§ Three presentations of the CES Essential Skills Series v 2014 (ESS) were delivered with one in Victoria, and two in Whitehorse with the Yukon Government. One ESS Enhanced Capacity Workshop was also offered in Whitehorse for returning participants.

§ A sold-out, one-day Evaluation Conference for the Not-for-Profit sector was held in Vancouver on Nov. 27 including 141 participants. This event was chaired by Diana Tindall.

§ Lower Mainland Coordinators Kristina Hoyak and Elayne Vlahaki initiated a book club was in May for evaluators with Meadows, D. (2008). Thinking in systems: A primer.

§ An inaugural meet-up event was held in Vancouver on March 5 for new and emerging evaluators in the region. The event was attended by 17 people and facilitated by Michelle Naimi and Carolyn Camman. It was a social/networking event which also included group discussions on new and emerging evaluator needs and future meet-up themes. A second event is planned for June.

Governance & Process: A major initiative to review, refresh, and rewrite the Chapter Bylaws was led by Chapter Secretary Jennifer Hall. This work culminated in acceptance at the chapter AGM held in Vancouver on Nov. 27.


Strategic Planning: A retreat was held Feb. 13 & 14 to refresh the vision of the CESBCY for the next three years. The council had the opportunity to complete team-building exercises and build relationships to facilitate ongoing virtual meetings. Several areas were prioritized for development in the coming two years: membership development, website development, and coordinating local activities to best serve the membership and build toward CES 2017. [SS4]

2017 National Conference Host: Planning is going full steam ahead for the conference to be held in Vancouver Apr. 30 – May 3. Leading a large conference planning committee, conference co-chairs Sarah Farina and Chris Lovato have announced the theme of the conference as Facing Forward: Action. Reflection. Innovation. A welcoming invitation to attend the conference was extended to all at the 2016 Conference in St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador.

Financial Collaboration: CESBCY contributed $400.00 to the 2016 CES-CESEF Student Case Competition and $500 to the C2016 hospitality suite. A $2000 CES membership infusion grant was used to support membership events in five regions served by the chapter plus additional events specifically for students and emerging evaluators.

Acknowledgements: Two valued members of our Chapter Council completed their terms during the past year. CESBCY acknowledges the many years of service contributed to the evaluation profession by Bill Reid, CE and Eyyub Hajiyev, CE.

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