American Journal of Evaluation Week: Evaluation Agenda 2.0 by Alyna Wyatt and Hubert Paulmer

Date: Saturday, October 25, 2025

We are Alyna Wyatt and Hubert Paulmer of the International Working Group and we were invited to share with you a brief intro to the launch of the Global Evaluation Agenda (GEA) 2.0.

GEA 2.0 is a visionary articulation of the contribution evaluation can make to people, planet, prosperity, and peace. The vision articulates the evolution of the profession, discipline, and practice of evaluation over the last 75 years. GEA 2.0 builds upon its predecessor (GEA 1.0) recognizing how the evolution has expanded, diversified and accelerated in the last decade, while adapting to the current era of inter-connected poly-crises (from accelerating climate change issues and new pandemic to persistent conflicts widening inequalities) and advocating a more agile, integrated, values-driven approach to evaluation.

GEA 2.0 is developed through a multistakeholder consultative process drawing on the wisdom of evaluators (experienced and emerging), evaluation commissioners, parliamentarians and with inputs from EvalPartners networks and the Voluntary Organizations for Professional Evaluation (VOPEs).

GEA 2.0 is structured around four mutually reinforcing dimensions:

Enabling Environment for Evaluation envisages elements to foster a conducive environment where high-quality evaluation is institutionalized, nationally owned, realistically funded and supported by diverse partners.
Institutional and Organizational Capacities envisions institutions and organizations to promote complex, inclusive, transdisciplinary and localized evaluations to influence decision-making and contribute to the well-being of people and sustainable development, leaving no one behind.
Individual Capabilities elements foresee increased understanding of the value of evaluation and evaluative thinking and enhanced abilities of evaluation commissioners, managers, evaluators and other stakeholders/rights-holders to plan, implement and utilize high-quality evaluations.
Key Catalytic Actions and Synergies ensures coherence and coordination and actors across the first three dimensions to create synergistic effects.

GEA 2.0 embodies a profound commitment to integrating evaluation into the core of policy and decision-making. Together, by embracing this shared vision, leveraging innovative and responsive methods, emerging technologies and fostering cross-sector collaboration, stakeholders and rights-holders can collectively build resilient societies, ensure that no one is left behind, and position evaluation as a catalyst for positive change locally and globally. Co-creation is at the core of GEA 2.0.

Recognizing the current poly-crisis context in which we live, and GEA 2.0 calls out the urgent need for evaluation to move beyond the traditional role of accountability and to fully transform evaluation into a catalyst to strengthen outcomes for people, planet, prosperity and peace by collectively facilitating sustainable development.

Final Thoughts

GEA 2.0 is intended to serve a common agenda for collective commitment and action to advance the profession and the evaluation field, to attain its full potential and recognition. A strong evaluation is critical to move the world to an equitable and sustainable future and GEA 2.0’s underlines the importance of evaluation to remain relevant and future-fit in an ever-changing world.

In the words of Michael Patton, “GEA 2.0 is innovative, adaptive and visionary. It commits to ensuring evaluation has the potential to shape future agendas in the constantly changing development landscape.”

Rad Resources

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