Evaluation from a Gender Lens – Foregrounding Global South Reflections and Experiences

This interactive session draws on the article “Evaluation from a Gender Lens – Foregrounding Global South Reflections and Experiences” to examine how gender-transformative evaluation can be strengthened by centering Global South feminist epistemologies. The session introduces a decolonized framework organized around five interlocking domains – power dynamics, intersectionality, inclusion and representation, methodological approaches, and ethics – and illustrates these through four case studies from Latin America, South Asia, and the Middle East. Through a short framing presentation and participatory breakout discussions, participants will explore how to operationalize these domains in their own evaluation practice, challenge power blindness in evaluation routines, and advance gender justice through context-grounded, transformative approaches.
This session connects to Sub-theme 3 (Ethics, Standards, and Human Judgment) by addressing the normative dimensions of evaluation practice – specifically, how power relations, colonial epistemologies, and ethical frameworks shape what counts as credible evidence in gender evaluation. It also speaks to Sub-theme 1 (The Changing Landscape) by examining how evaluation’s role is evolving in a world where dominant frameworks are increasingly contested by Global South scholars and practitioners. The session’s emphasis on whose knowledge is valued, who controls evaluation design, and how trust in evidence is built resonates directly with the central Glocal question of safeguarding trust while adapting evaluation practice.