Slides and handout from AEA 2019 Conference Presentation.
Stakeholder engagement is abundant in evaluation. Each new evaluation brings about the questions of who to engage, when to engage, and how to engage. Along with these questions come contextual concerns like how to engage all relevant stakeholders in a culturally competent way while dealing with the complicated nature of power dynamics, maintaining objectivity, including underrepresented voices, etc. This session aims to use an appreciative inquiry framework to tackle these questions and issues that permeate our field by providing a space to reflect on our strengths and learn from our collective wealth of experiences. By the end of the session, attendees will: (1) learn prominent evaluation theorists’ conceptions of these issues, (2) discuss experiences, methods, and practices that best prepare us to address these key issues, and (3) collectively pave a path to the future of stakeholder engagement.