Date: Friday, October 23, 2026
Hello, AEA365 community! Liz DiLuzio here, Lead Curator of the blog. This week is Individuals Week, which means we take a break from our themed weeks and spotlight the Hot Tips, Cool Tricks, Rad Resources and Lessons Learned from any evaluator interested in sharing. Would you like to contribute to future individuals weeks? Email me at AEA365@eval.org with an idea or a draft and we will make it happen.
Hello, I am Jackline Musuya, a Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning practitioner and applied researcher based in Kenya. Through my work with development programmes, I have learned that credible findings do not automatically influence decisions. Evidence becomes useful when organisations interpret it, respond to it, assign responsibility and communicate what changed.
Reports often contain thoughtful recommendations but arrive after decisions have been made, remain within technical teams or lack clear follow-up mechanisms. Here are four practical ways evaluators can help close the evidence-use loop.
Before selecting indicators or collecting data, ask:
These shifts monitoring from collecting everything that can be measured to generating evidence that supports a defined decision. It also helps evaluators identify the right audience, timing and communication format from the beginning.
Presenting findings is not the same as supporting their use. Programme teams, decision-makers and affected communities need opportunities to question findings, consider alternative explanations and discuss their implications.
Useful interpretation questions include:
That final question matters because barriers to evidence use are not always technical. A recommendation may be financially constrained, operationally difficult or politically uncomfortable. Each barrier requires a different response.
Instead of ending with a long recommendation list, convert agreed actions into a simple tracker containing:
At each management or learning meeting, classify actions as completed, delayed, modified or not accepted, and provide a brief explanation.
The programme owner should remain responsible for implementing agreed actions. The Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning function can support accountability by documenting decisions, tracking progress and highlighting unresolved actions during review meetings.
Evaluators monitor programme outcomes, but we do not always assess whether our own evidence influenced anything.
Evidence-use questions could include:
Not every recommendation should be implemented exactly as written. Decision-makers may have legitimate contextual, operational or financial reasons for modifying or rejecting it. However, the decision and reasoning should be documented.
Where findings originate from community feedback, closing the loop is particularly important. Organisations should communicate what they heard, what they will change, what they cannot change and why.
Evaluation does not end when findings are presented. The loop closes when organisations listen, decide, act, review the consequences and communicate what changed. Evaluators can strengthen this process by designing for use from the beginning and treating follow-through as an accountability outcome.
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