Date: Monday, December 16, 2024
Salutations! I am David Hanson, Director of Evaluation and Social Equity at Cause IMPACTS Consulting and a Leaders in Equitable Evaluation and Diversity scholar.
The year is 2024, and a watershed political event has just occurred in the US. In the face of this, many are seeking ways to educate, organize, and activate. I lean on the principle of sankofa: how to move forward while taking lessons from the past, while remaining steadfast in the present.
Inspired by the 1960s Rainbow Coalition and contemporary Black utopian thought, I dream of “rainbow utopias” – anti-racist, multicultural worlds built on justice, equity, and inclusivity. To achieve this, we need evaluation practices as radical as the utopias themselves. Culturally Responsive and Equitable Evaluation (CREE) can be a powerful tool, but we need to go further. To do that, I draw on the writings of Grace Anderson and Deepa Iyer.
TL,DR: Culturally Responsive and Equitable Evaluation (CREE) can be a powerful tool that can help us build these rainbow utopias. By centering the voices and experiences of marginalized communities, CREE challenges traditional power dynamics and promotes social justice. But to truly harness its power, we need to go further, embracing curiosity, a willingness to adapt our roles within and in service of mission-driven social movements, and a deep-rooted sense of steadiness.
We must constantly question our assumptions, even within our movements. Are we truly inclusive, or are we inadvertently creating silos? To build genuine rainbow utopias:
Social change requires diverse individuals and organizations working together. As CREE evaluators, we must understand and adapt our roles.
The journey towards collective liberation requires steadiness – a commitment to consistent action, continuous learning, and resilience. It allows us to pace ourselves, stay grounded, and remain committed to the long-term vision of rainbow utopias. Steadiness means:
CREE evaluators are crucial in building rainbow utopias. By embracing curiosity, finding our roles, cultivating steadiness, and remaining adaptable, we can help create a more just and equitable future.
Let’s continue the conversation. What role do you see yourself playing? How can you cultivate steadiness in your work? What does evaluation for liberation mean to you?
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