aes24 International Evaluation Conference

Authors: John Gargani (Gargani + Co ),Julian King (Julian King & Associates, NZ)

In this participatory session, we pose the question, "How should evaluators innovate the practice of value-for-money assessment to meet the needs of an expanding set of actors that include governments, philanthropists, impact investors, social entrepreneurs, program designers, and Indigenous and First Nations communities?" We begin by framing value for money as an evaluative question about an economic problem. How well are we using resources, and are we using them well enough to justify their use? Then we suggest new methods intended to help innovate the practice of value for money based on our body of published and current research spanning over 10 years.
These include new methods that (1) produce "holistic" assessments of value for money, (2) reflect rather than hide multiple value perspectives even when values conflict, (3) estimate social benefit-cost ratios without monetizing benefits or costs, and (4) adjust monetary and nonmonetary value for risk using Bayesian methods. Along the way, we facilitate discussions with participants, asking them to consider if, how, and by whom these innovations should be pursued, and what other innovations may be needed. We provide participants with access to a collection of our published and draft papers, and invite them to comment and continue our discussion after the conference.