aes24 International Evaluation Conference

Authors: Kristy Hornby (Grosvenor), Eleanor Williams (Australian Centre for Evaluation), Mandy Chaman (Outcomes, Practice and Evidence Network)

Navigating ethics is an essential part of any evaluation journey. As evaluators we often encounter complex situations that require thoughtful consideration of ethical principles and practice, far beyond the formal ethics process itself.

This session will explore real-world scenarios and provide attendees with actionable strategies to enhance ethical decision-making in their evaluation practice. The panel will speak to questions of managing commissioners' expectations, how to speak frankly to program areas where under-performance is found, issues of confidentiality, ensuring culturally sensitive practice, and ensuring power imbalances are acknowledged and addressed.

The panel presentation will take attendees through the journey of ethical practice and will consider:
- The overall significance of ethical thinking in evaluation
- Common ethical challenges faced by evaluators
- Practical tools and frameworks that empower evaluators to uphold their ethical standards and deliver meaningful results that can withstand scrutiny
- From an internal evaluator perspective, the balancing act of managing these tensions successfully
- Case studies that can illustrate the application of practical ethics in evaluation
- Takeaways and recommendations.

Eleanor Williams, Managing Director of the Australian Centre for Evaluation; Mandy Charman, Project Manager for the Outcome, Performance and Evidence Network in the Centre for Excellence in Child and Family Welfare; and Kristy Hornby, Victorian Program Evaluation Practice Lead at Grosvenor will be the panellists. Our expert panellists will talk to their deidentified war stories in their current and previous roles to set out exactly what kind of challenges evaluators can face in the conduct of their work, and learn from the panellists' hands-on experience on what to do about them. Attendees will be encouraged to participate in a dynamic dialogue with the panellists and with each other, to share their own experiences and strategies for addressing ethical concerns, building on the content shared through the session.