When “What’s Right” is Contested: Ethical Reflexivity in Systemic ChangeEmily Gates, Associate Professor of Evaluation, Boston CollegeEthics in evaluation is often treated as a matter of personal values, organisational commitments, or compliance with professional guidelines. But in systemic change, ethics becomes an ongoing, relational practice that asks us to hold space for hard questions and disagreement about “what’s right.”
In this session, we’ll make space for diverse perspectives and value the contexts and communities in which evaluation happens. We’ll practice ethical reflexivity together using photos, comics, and other visual moments from real evaluation work to explore:
- How our roles change when we evaluate systems instead of programs, and how we decide what responsible involvement looks like.
- How we navigate values, perspectives, and power, while avoiding the reproduction of unjust dynamics.
- How to assess “success” when outcomes are emergent, contributions are multi directional, and interpretations differ.
At its heart, this session sharpens the questions we ask of ourselves and each other, strengthening the ethical reflexivity needed to act with integrity when “what’s right” is genuinely contested.
Followed by:
Closing address: Kim Grey, AES President.
