aes26 International Evaluation Conference: Full Schedule

Presenter and chair information page, resources for conference presenters, authors and session chairs.

4:30pm ACST

Using partnering principles to navigate power and ethics in evaluation

Wednesday September 16, 2026 4:30pm - 5:30pm ACST

Author: Dana Cross (Grosvenor)

Effective evaluation increasingly depends on strong partnerships across communities, commissioners, service providers and evaluators. Yet partnering is often guided by goodwill rather than shared principles, leaving teams vulnerable to power imbalances, ethical drift and unspoken assumptions. This skill building session focuses on principles-based partnering, defined as the deliberate use of a small, shared set of agreed principles to guide roles, behaviours and decision making within evaluation partnerships.

The objective of the session is to build participants’ capability to use partnering principles intentionally and appropriately in real world evaluation contexts, particularly where values, authority and accountabilities differ. Drawing on applied evaluation practice, the session introduces principles based partnering not as a universal solution, but as a supporting mechanism that must be applied judiciously and adapted to context and place.

Participants will develop three core skills:
1.Identifying when partnering principles are likely to be helpful and when they are unlikely to add value or may even create risk.
2.Understanding and applying practical processes for establishing partnering principles, including who should be involved, how principles can be co-created, and how they can be revisited over time.
3. Using principles to navigate tension, power dynamics and ethical dilemmas as they arise during the evaluation lifecycle.

The session is designed as an interactive workshop. Participants will work in small groups to explore short evaluation scenarios, test whether principles-based partnering is appropriate, and practice establishing and applying principles in context. This will be followed by whole group discussion to surface lessons and challenges.
Participants will leave with a clear, adaptable approach for deciding when and how to establish and use partnering principles. The session is suited to foundational and intermediate evaluators seeking hands on skills grounded in real world practice.

Chair

John Gilbert

Manager Monitoring & Evaluation, Country Fire Authority

I am a program evaluator with over 20 years of experience in bushfire and natural hazards community safety and emergency management. This has included roles in the emergency services, universities and peak bodies. In my current role at the Country Fire Authority, I lead the Monitoring... Read More →

Speakers

Dana Cross

Associate Director, Grosvenor Public Sector Advisory

Dana is a public sector expert, possessing almost 20 years of deep experience advising government organisations on program evaluation, organisational review, service optimisation and performance management. She is the Practice Lead for Program Evaluation. Dana has designed and conducted... Read More →

Wednesday September 16, 2026 4:30pm - 5:30pm ACST
Rooms 1+2 Stokes Hill Rd, Darwin City NT, Australia

Ethics and integrity

Format Skill building
Audience Level Foundational, Intermediate
Industry Community and social services, Environment and climate change, Health and disability, Natural resources and energy, Public administration and safety
ID 118

aes26 International Evaluation Conference

4:30pm ACST

John Gilbert

Dana Cross

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