This presentation was one of four in a panel called "Strategy as Evaluand: Quality and Utilization Issues in Evaluating Strategy" at the 2010 AEA conference, chaired by Michael Quinn Patton. The International Development Research Centre (IDRC) is a Canadian crown corporation that supports research in developing countries. IDRC undertakes evaluate work at different levels: strategic evaluations; program and project evaluation; and ongoing learning. “Strategic” evaluations examine issues that cut across the Centre’s eighteen programs. They have focused on programming modalities and broad corporate result areas like capacity building and policy influence. In a decentralized, utilization-focused approach to evaluation, IDRC has taken the view that strategic-level evaluation requires separate studies, as opposed to “rolling up” data from program or project evaluations. This presentation will highlight how IDRC has framed and used strategic evaluations. It will also discuss the findings of a 2009 study, which reviewed recent strategic and program evaluations in light of IDRC’s Corporate Strategy. This study drew out a number of “tensions” that exist in IDRC programming. Naming these tensions has proved helpful for subsequent evaluation and strategy development. #Strategy