Culture is much more than a “pop culture” reference, it is many identifying factors that influence how we think, behave and feel as people. The American Evaluation Association defined culture as values, beliefs, customs, morals and language that are shared among people. As such, it would be appropriate to conclude that culture is the complex essence of being human. If the goal of a company is to improve outcomes of people, whether related to health, policy, learning or other, then representation of culture should be at the cornerstone of strategy development and implementation – Cultured Evaluation, LLC was created with this viewpoint in mind.
Culturally-minded Evaluation
The goal of a program evaluator is to support companies with strengthening their programs through data-driven recommendations. For evaluation to be relevant, useful and impactful, it must also reflect culturally-minded planning. While no one evaluator can truly be an expert in every culture, I believe what sets a part one evaluator from another, is the appreciation of culture and its influence in how it shapes the lived experiences of people.
The table below outlines generic examples of how to reshape the traditional evaluation approach to include culturally-minded planning at each stage of evaluation. It is important to note that the word 'culture or cultural groups' in the right column is used as a placeholder and should be replaced to explicitly state which groups your company is interested in evaluating.
Reference: American Evaluation Association (AEA). (2011). American Evaluation Association Public Statement on Cultural Competence in Evaluation. Fairhaven, MA. Accessed on 12 February, 2023.
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