How a consultant is rethinking their practice
Vancouver-based evaluation consultant Ciaran Camman had long felt something was missing in their work. Like many evaluators, Ciaran learned much of their profession on the job as they worked over the years on a number of projects, ranging from mental health and addictions to immigration and disability services.
鈥淪omehow it wasn鈥檛 totally coming together for me,鈥� Ciaran explains鈥攗ntil they discovered SFU鈥檚 Evaluation for Social Change and Transformational Learning Certificate. Thanks to the program, they鈥檙e now working to rethink and reshape their own practice to create deeper social impact.
For Ciaran, the learning process continues, even after finishing the program in 2020: 鈥淪ometimes it feels like I鈥檝e been doing this a long time, but sometimes it feels like I鈥檓 just getting started. I鈥檝e had to learn鈥攁nd unlearn鈥攁nd change so much recently.鈥�
Their traditional social science training hadn鈥檛 fully prepared them for the kind of work they wanted to do, adds Ciaran. 鈥淚t gave me one way of looking at the world, one type of methodology: it鈥檚 very positivist, very rational, and very white and Western.鈥�
When they came across SFU鈥檚 program, that missing puzzle piece slipped into place. 鈥淚t was so fantastic,鈥� Ciaran says of their experience in the first course. 鈥淚t lived up to that transformative promise.鈥�
They left the course feeling galvanized and determined to complete the rest of the program. 鈥淚 hadn鈥檛 been accessing everything that was possible or thinking about things in different ways,鈥� recalls Ciaran. 鈥淏ut now I felt a commitment to really transform my own practice.鈥�
The learning helped Ciaran transition towards participatory methods, and away from thinking of themselves as an outsider who comes in to tell clients what they鈥檙e about and what they should do, and towards being a partner supporting people on a learning journey that is about recognizing and developing their inherent capacity.
鈥淚 have a strong belief about evaluation as an essential human practice,鈥� explains Ciaran. 鈥淪o, now it鈥檚 about really working with people and working through those questions of how do we assign value to this, what does value mean to us in this context? We quickly get into these deep existential questions.鈥�
During the program, Ciaran found plenty of opportunity for self-reflection. For their capstone project, they even mapped their own journey as an evaluator. 鈥淚 was surprised by what I learned about myself and how I approach my practice,鈥� they recall. 鈥淭he program surfaced some of those unconscious assumptions about my role, how I do things, what is evaluation and what is it for. It really stimulated some of that thinking for me.鈥�
If other evaluators are wondering whether the SFU program can do the same for them, Ciaran offers this reassurance: 鈥淚f you don鈥檛 come from a traditional evaluation background, this is a really great place to start an evaluation education.
鈥淎nd if you do come with more experience鈥攍ike I had鈥攊t鈥檚 still a really great place to start an evaluation education.鈥�
By Kim Mah