Reorienting Evaluator Competencies: Learnings from Evaluation Practice During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Background: The Covid-19 Pandemic has emphasized the need for evaluators to reorient their skills based on ongoing learnings from evaluations. As a result, evaluators must possess a variety of competencies to meet the challenges created by such unprecedented circumstances. Purpose: Using existing literature about evaluators' competencies and the experiences of conducting evaluations during pandemic, this paper proposes a set of competencies that enable an evaluator to collaborate meaningfully with grassroots organizations and co-design evaluations with communities that empower evaluators to think beyond the boundaries of a project intervention towards achieving a larger goal. Setting: Covid 19 Pandemic and evaluation practice in India Intervention: NA Research Design: Case study with interpretive approach Data Collection and analysis: NA Findings: The paper suggests that acquiring 'strategic thinking' and 'emotional intelligence and resilience' strengthens evaluators' competencies to be flexible and innovative in evolving evaluation methods.