aes26 International Evaluation Conference: Full Schedule

This is the draft aes26 program, subject to change. To register for workshops and the conference, go to: https://www.aes26.aes.asn.au/

11:00am ACST

Practical ways to make space for place in the Evaluation of Regreening

Wednesday September 16, 2026 11:00am - 11:30am ACST

Waterfront 3

Author: Alice Muller, World Vision
Evaluators and development practitioners need to understand how environmental changes impact and result from development programming. Often finding practical ways to do is a challenge, particularly where complex environmental, biodiversity and climate systems are involved, and where evaluators and practitioners come from social or economic backgrounds with limited biophysical or ecological training. This paper shares how we can better value place and understand environmental consequences in international development projects by letting evaluations be locally-led, with local knowledge and values at the center.

Drawing on real‑world examples from World Vision’s Regreening Communities work, the paper presents three simple tools used by communities t Together, these approaches value place by centring local and Indigenous knowledge and values, assessing change from a local perspective, in a standardised way and using spatial tools that together still contribute to organisational‑level evidence.

First, a community mapping and planning exercise makes space for diverse groups within a community to define what regreening and wellbeing mean in their own environments, surfacing cultural, livelihood and social values that are often invisible in standard indicator frameworks. Second, a community‑assessed Regreening Index provides a structured and repeatable way to assess biophysical conditions and trends over time in relation to community priorities, while still enabling consistent comparison across sites and projects. Third, spatial mapping of regreening sites using a powerful, but freely available tool adapted from the WASH sector, enables evaluators to examine patterns and cumulative effects at project and organisational levels.

While none of these tools is unique in isolation, when combined they lower barriers to including environmental considerations in evaluation practice and generate insights that strengthen learning, adaptive management and sustainability discussions, ethically. The presentation will share engaging practical examples and invite participants to reflect on opportunities to better value place within their own work.

Speakers

Alice Muller

Senior Monitoring and Evidence Advisor, World Vision

An environmental scientist, working in international development, interested in evaluation and learning about all things community, trees, ecosystem restoration, climate action, scaling and systems transformation.
I also really like coffee and chatting about gardening, travel and animal anecdotes if you need a break anytime... Read More →

Wednesday September 16, 2026 11:00am - 11:30am ACST
Waterfront 3 Stokes Hill Rd, Darwin City NT, Australia

Traditional and new ways

Format Short paper
Audience Level Intermediate
Industry International development, Environment and climate change
ID 322

11:30am ACST

What makes place-based evaluation different?

Wednesday September 16, 2026 11:30am - 12:30pm ACST

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Authors: Lorraine Heywood, Treasury, Suzanne Butler, Treasury, Jessica Smart, AIFS
This panel discussion and Q&A will provide a lively and thought-provoking discussion about the differences between traditional program evaluation and place-based evaluation, with panel members sharing their experience and examples from different organisational perspectives across the field.

Speakers

Jessica Smart

Research Fellow, AIFS

Suzanne Butler

Director, Place-based Evaluation and Wellbeing Unit, Department of Treasury

Suzanne currently leads a team in the Australian Centre for Evaluation (ACE) responsible for embedding good evaluation principles and practices across government and fostering an evaluative culture that supports continuous learning about what works, why, and for whom. This includes... Read More →

Lorraine Heywood

Assistant Director, Department of Treasury

Wednesday September 16, 2026 11:30am - 12:30pm ACST
Waterfront 3 Stokes Hill Rd, Darwin City NT, Australia

Traditional and new ways

Format Panel
Audience Level Foundational, Intermediate
Industry Community and social services

2:30pm ACST

Evaluation as a Bridge: The Multiple Hats of MEL in Scaling Government-led Graduation Programmes

Wednesday September 16, 2026 2:30pm - 3:00pm ACST

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Authors: Kristian Paolo Torres, BRAC Ultra-Poor Graduation Initiative, Tania Dora Warokka, BRAC Ultra-Poor Graduation Initiative, Arnaldo Pellini, BRAC Ultra-Poor Graduation Initiative
Programmes aiming to influence governance systems and policy reforms—particularly those using experimental approaches—require MEL functions that are able to move across design, strategy, context analysis, and sensemaking.

Traditional M&E often prioritizes linear accountability, struggling to measure influence on policies and behaviors (as noted by the ODI RAPID programme, 2006–2020).

This presentation shares the experience of the BRAC Ultra-Poor Graduation Initiative, which partners with governments across six countries to scale the ‘Graduation’ approach through national social development systems (e.g. social protection, livelihood, labour and employment, etc.). Because UPGI’s success is measured by policy influence and system change rather than direct delivery, the MEL function must act as a strategic bridge rather than a neutral observer.

Drawing on our experience in Indonesia and the Philippines, we share how MEL supports country teams as adaptive units navigating two primary challenges: calibrating the interplay between political commitment, administrative feasibility, and technical quality; and designing for scale from the outset to ensure government ownership rather than isolated pilot results.

We argue that a team learning culture—rather than a "neutral" M&E function—is the essential infrastructure for this work. By establishing specific habits to capture field experience and inform strategic decisions, MEL acts as the "many-hatted" bridge required to navigate these dynamic systemic boundaries and prevent programmes from remaining stagnant.

We will share three core insights from our MEL experience:

1. How the evaluator’s role shifts to an active learning partner, framing field evidence to navigate political and administrative boundaries.
2. How practical tools—such as Capacity and Commitment Rubrics and Diaries—support teams in documenting for learning rather than reporting for compliance.
3. Real-world examples where structured reflection informed specific shifts in government engagement strategies.

The session will also engage the audience in a "Reflection Micro-Workshop" where participants will share insights from their own work and experiences.

Speakers

Kristian Paolo Torres

Research, Evaluation, and Knowledge Management Specialist, BRAC Ultra-Poor Graduation Initiative

Tania Dora Warokka

Senior MEL and Research Analyst, BRAC Ultra-Poor Graduation Initiative

Wednesday September 16, 2026 2:30pm - 3:00pm ACST
Waterfront 3 Stokes Hill Rd, Darwin City NT, Australia

Boundaries and bridges

Format Short paper
Audience Level Foundational, Intermediate
Industry Community and social services, Not for profit Philanthropy, International development
ID 234

3:00pm ACST

The case for key monitoring questions in simplifying performance frameworks

Wednesday September 16, 2026 3:00pm - 3:30pm ACST

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Author: Jack Rutherford, ARTD
Have you ever felt that the Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) Framework you developed or had to implement was potentially too complicated?

This presentation introduces Key Monitoring Questions (KMQs); a novel approach that builds on the well‑established logic of Results‑Based Accountability (RBA) to simplify M&E frameworks while strengthening their usefulness for decision‑making and reflection.

M&E Frameworks often become unintentionally complex. In the pursuit of rigour and comprehensiveness, evaluators and program designers can generate long lists of indicators, data sources and measurement requirements. While well‑intentioned, these expansive frameworks can overwhelm those responsible for implementation, leading to delays in data collection and reporting or abandoned learning processes.

Instead of attempting to measure every activity, output or incremental outcome, KMQs concentrate attention on purposeful questions drawn from RBA that the monitoring system must answer. This shift helps teams focus on what matters most by clarifying the purpose of monitoring and identifying the minimum information required to support meaningful learning.

The presentation will introduce four KMQs adapted from RBA and demonstrate how they streamline data collection and support evaluation and reflection:

1.How much was done?
2.How well was it done?
3.Who was affected?
4.How has the context changed?

The presentation will share three key messages:

1.Complex frameworks can undermine learning by overwhelming users with excessive data expectations.
2.KMQs provide a structured, disciplined way to sharpen focus and streamline indicator selection.
3.Using KMQs supports more sustainable monitoring practice, enabling teams to engage more deeply with the data that matters.

Before the session, you will be asked to reflect on your experiences developing or implementing M&E Frameworks, recognising the shared issues that KMQs address.

This session is targeted at foundational and intermediate evaluators, and commissioners and program staff who suspect their frameworks could be simpler and more effective.

Speakers

Jack Rutherford

Manager, ARTD

Jack joined ARTD in 2018 after completing his Honours thesis in behavioural ecology the previous year, during which he tried to teach colours to jumping spiders. He augments his skills and insights from ecology to the public policy ecosystem, thinking critically about evaluation and analysis... Read More →

Wednesday September 16, 2026 3:00pm - 3:30pm ACST
Waterfront 3 Stokes Hill Rd, Darwin City NT, Australia

Traditional and new ways

Format Short paper
Audience Level Foundational, Intermediate
Industry Education and training, Environment and climate change, Economic development tourism and infrastructure, Natural resources and energy, Community and social services
ID 102

4:00pm ACST

Making space for influence: Danjoo Koorliny and decolonising evaluation to measure systems change

Wednesday September 16, 2026 4:00pm - 4:30pm ACST

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Author: Doyen Radcliffe, Bajja Yungayimanha Collaboration
Indigenous-led systems change often begins with shifts in cultural authority, relationships, trust and institutional behaviour—long before formal outcomes or policy reform become visible. Yet many evaluation approaches continue to prioritise measurable outputs and short-term results, overlooking the relational, cultural and ethical foundations that drive meaningful change. This creates a gap between what First Nations communities experience as impact and what institutions recognise as evidence.

This presentation introduces the Danjoo Koorliny Five-Dimensional Indigenous Influence Model, developed through the Aboriginal-led impact evaluation of the Danjoo Koorliny movement in Western Australia. The model offers a practical and culturally grounded way to measure systems change by identifying and assessing influence across cultural, relational, behavioural, structural and transformational domains. Central to this work is a decolonising evaluation process that repositions cultural authority, Country and relational accountability as the foundation of ethical and rigorous evaluation. For First Nations evaluation, this means privileging Elder governance, community decision-making, Indigenous Data Sovereignty and culturally grounded methods such as yarning, storywork and outcome harvesting. For evaluation more broadly, it expands how evidence, value and impact are understood in complex systems and supports earlier identification of meaningful change.

The session will highlight three key messages. First, influence is the primary mechanism and measurable pathway of Indigenous-led systems change. Second, decolonising evaluation strengthens methodological rigour by integrating Indigenous and Western approaches rather than positioning them in opposition. Third, valuing place, relationships and cultural integrity improves the relevance, integrity and usefulness of evaluation for communities, policymakers and funders.

The presentation will combine short input, reflective discussion and interactive activities. Participants will explore practical tools, apply the framework to their own contexts, and reflect on how measuring influence can strengthen systems thinking and evaluation practice across diverse sectors.

Speakers

Doyen Radcliffe

CEO & AES Fellow, Bajja Yungayimanha Collaboration

Doyen Radcliffe is a Yamatji Naaguja man from the Midwest Region of Western Australia. Doyen is a community minded individual with a passion for empowering Indigenous communities to reach their real potential to improve quality of life, health, social and economic wellbeing, and inclusion... Read More →

Wednesday September 16, 2026 4:00pm - 4:30pm ACST
Waterfront 3 Stokes Hill Rd, Darwin City NT, Australia

Traditional and new ways

Format Short paper
Audience Level Intermediate, Advanced
Industry Education and training, Information media and telecommunications, Economic development tourism and infrastructure, Health and disability, Environment and climate change, International development, Arts and recreation services, Community and social services, Natur
ID 40

4:30pm ACST

Two-way learning through evaluation: An innovative Indigenous-led initiative enacting developmental evaluation at the cultural interface

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

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Authors: Samantha Togni, S2 Consulting, Robyn Napurrurla Lawson, Central Land Council, Verona Nungarrayi Jurrah, Central Land Council, David Japanangka McCormack, Central Land Council, Belinda Napaljarri Wayne, Central Land Council
For decades Indigenous peoples have led, and advocated for, evaluation that centres Indigenous ways of knowing and being and that promotes cultural safety to better support the realisation of Indigenous peoples’ aspirations through decolonising evaluation.

As a relationship-based participatory approach that is suited to supporting social innovation in complex, dynamic contexts, developmental evaluation is emerging as a useful approach in these settings. The focus on relationships underscores recognition that it is in relationship that change and development happen.

Over seven years developmental evaluation has supported the facilitation of two-way learning between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people to develop an innovative Indigenous-led initiative to strengthen the governance of two Indigenous corporations in remote Australia. Operating at the interface of different knowledge systems, laws and values, this co-design process involved Indigenous directors, land council staff and corporate governance trainers.

Guided by the principles of culturally responsive evaluation in Indigenous contexts, developmental evaluation enabled the prioritisation of relationships, and the centring of Indigenous voices, knowledge and culture to effectively enact two-way learning within this complex intercultural context. In conversation with the evaluator, Indigenous directors will share how they engaged in and influenced the developmental evaluation to enact two-way learning and how it became integral to the initiative’s co-design and delivery.

Featuring long-term and newly elected directors, panellists will explore their experiences of how, through the centring of their values and knowledge, the evaluation learnings:

1) transformed the program to align with Indigenous ways of learning;
2) contributed to the initiative’s effectiveness and accelerated newly elected directors’ learning; and
3) strengthened relationships and cultural safety that underpinned two-way learning.

Panellists will provide valuable lessons from culturally responsive developmental evaluation in practice, demonstrating factors that contributed to this approach effectively centring Indigenous people’s values and perspectives to strengthen relationships and decolonize evaluation to support Indigenous aspirations.

Speakers

Samantha Togni

Evaluation Consultant, S2 Consulting

Samantha Togni is an evaluation and social research consultant based in Alice Springs. She has more than 20 years’ experience in Indigenous health and wellbeing research and evaluation, working with rural and remote Aboriginal organisations in northern and central Australia. Her... Read More →

Robyn Napurrurla Lawson

Director, Central Land Council

Belinda Napaljarri Wayne

Central Land Council

David Japanangka McCormack

Central Land Council

Wednesday September 16, 2026 4:30pm - 5:30pm ACST
Waterfront 3 Stokes Hill Rd, Darwin City NT, Australia

Traditional and new ways

Format Panel
Audience Level Foundational, Intermediate
Industry Community and social services
ID 247

10:30am ACST

Philanthropy and Evaluation – What Gives?

Thursday September 17, 2026 10:30am - 11:30am ACST

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Author: Rick Cummings
It is estimated that about $2.4 billion was given in philanthropic and charitable causes in Australian in 2021(Philanthropy Australia, 2021, A Blueprint to Grow Structured Giving). This is a very significant amount and yet there is little if any research on how these funds and programs are evaluated.

We are proposing a panel discussion moderated by a Fellow using a café layout to discuss issues related to philanthropy and evaluation. The idea would be to look both at the role of evaluation in philanthropy and the role of philanthropy in evaluation. The objective is to identify issues in this field, to generate discussion between attendees and philanthropic organisations, and to build some bridges between evaluators and philanthropists for future research and evaluation activities.

The panel will consist of representatives from Australian philanthropic agencies, organisations which rely on philanthropic donations, and Fellows who have conducted evaluations of programs funded by philanthropy. Each of these panel members will be asked to give a 5-minute presentation on the issues they have found in philanthropy and evaluation. These presenters will form a panel, with a Fellow as moderator.

Based on these talks and relevant research, tables will be provided a set of questions to for discussion and for them to provide feedback/questions for discussion with the panel members. Each table will be facilitated by a Fellow or experienced evaluator.

Speakers

Rick Cummings

Emeritus Professor, Murdoch University

Rick Cummings is an Emeritus Professor in Public Policy at Murdoch University. He has 40 years of experience conducting evaluation studies in education, training, health, and crime prevention primarily for the state and commonwealth government agencies and the World Bank. He currently... Read More →

Thursday September 17, 2026 10:30am - 11:30am ACST
Waterfront 3 Stokes Hill Rd, Darwin City NT, Australia

Boundaries and bridges

Format Panel
Audience Level Intermediate, Foundational
Industry Not for profit Philanthropy
ID 1010