Date: Friday, February 6, 2026
Hello. We are Alysson Oakley (ICCE Board Chair), Kate Krueger (ICCE Program Chair), and Pooja Singh (ICCE Member Engagement Chair).
It has been one year since the U.S. Foreign Assistance funding cuts reshaped the evaluation landscape for many AEA members, particularly those engaged in international and cross-cultural evaluation. Funding streams shifted, priorities changed, and familiar ways of working were disrupted. Along the way, many of us found ourselves rethinking not only our methods, but also our roles and identities as evaluators.
As a community grounded in learning and reflection, we want to pause together before moving further into 2026. This blog is an invitation to look back on what 2025 asked of us and what it taught us, both individually and collectively. What lessons stayed with you? What adaptations mattered most? What questions are you still carrying forward?
As this is the final blog in this series, we would love to hear from you. Below, you will find an anonymous virtual poster board where community members can share reflections openly and safely. There are no right or wrong answers. Responses will appear in real time, allowing shared experiences, challenges, and hopes to take shape across our community.
We invite you to contribute by sharing:
Together, these reflections can help us better understand where our field is now and where it may be heading next.
To share your reflections, please click here: Virtual Poster Board.
We would love to engage with you more via the ICCE TIG! Please don’t hesitate to contact us. We welcome ideas for webinars, networking, and other events that bring evaluators in international settings or working in cross-cultural contexts together for shared learning.
The American Evaluation Association is hosting International and Cross-Cultural (ICCE) TIG Week with our colleagues in the International and Cross-Cultural Topical Interest Group. The contributions all this week to AEA365 come from our ICCE TIG members. Do you have questions, concerns, kudos, or content to extend this AEA365 contribution? Please add them in the comments section for this post on the AEA365 webpage so that we may enrich our community of practice. Would you like to submit an AEA365 Tip? Please send a note of interest to AEA365@eval.org. AEA365 is sponsored by the American Evaluation Association and provides a Tip-a-Day by and for evaluators. The views and opinions expressed on the AEA365 blog are solely those of the original authors and other contributors. These views and opinions do not necessarily represent those of the American Evaluation Association, and/or any/all contributors to this site.