12:00pm to 1:00pm Eastern Time

Too often evaluation is a mysterious noise. We can’t discern a beat we can tap our feet to. The melody we seek is elusive. From a poverty reduction perspective, we are inundated with the voices of our clients, funders, donors, colleagues, governments, business leaders, and labour counterparts. Reducing or ending poverty is the music we want to create and listen to, but how can we lessen the noise that envelopes us and increase our capacity to make this music together?

On October 14th, join Mark Holmgren and Mark Cabaj as they discuss this emerging innovation about a Game-Changer approach to poverty reduction strategy and evaluation and share your thoughts as well. Topics covered will include:

• What a Game-Changer in poverty reduction looks like and how this approach can help enhance focus on the development and evaluation of big change efforts to end poverty;
• The case for moving from an evaluation focus on attribution to contribution;
• How this approach can help us understand progress and serve as a catalyst for learning about what is working across the country to address poverty;
• How Game-Changer thinking can foster nation-wide attention on needed systems and policy change; help frame research; and also offer a touchstone for funders in their efforts to resource effective poverty reduction initiatives; and
• How Game-Changers can contribute to Movement-Building and a Collective Impact approach to poverty reduction.

Register for A Game Changer Approach to Poverty Reduction Strategy and Evaluation

Start Your Learning Early

Read Mark Holmgren's brand new paper:

Sometimes to Hear the Music you have to Turn Down the Noise

Speakers

Mark Holmgren joined Tamarack in January 2016 to lead its Vibrant Communities initiative and sits on Tamarack’s team of Directors. His background includes providing executive leadership to two Edmonton-based, inner city human service agencies focused on addressing poverty and homelessness; as well as providing consultation to a number of groups on issues relating to social housing development, organizational change, strategy development and leadership. Most recently Mark served as CEO of Bissell Centre (www.BissellCentre.org) where he led a team of 130 staff delivering Housing First services, assertive street outreach, family and children services, and programs in the areas of mental health, addictions, homelessness prevention, FASD interventions, and employment services.

Known for his big picture view and his ability to work on the ground, Mark has a long history of leading and contributing to social innovations that benefit low income people. Examples include leading the collaborative design of the Community Bridge (homelessness prevention); developing a multi-purpose centre with housing attached for inner city seniors; leading the development of three social enterprises; and, developing innovative approaches to employing marginalized populations.

Mark Cabaj has spent twenty-five years as a social change practitioner, policy maker, funder and consultant in Canada, the USA and Europe. He is a former Vice President of Tamarack, and was the Executive Director of Vibrant Communities Canada - one of the country’s first and largest Collective Impact Initiatives.

Mark is now President of Here to There Consulting Inc. currently focusing on developing practical ways to understand, plan and evaluate efforts to tackle complex issues (e.g. neighborhood renewal, poverty, community safety, environmental sustainability). This includes playing a strong role in building the practice of development evaluation - using evaluation to inform the work of social innovators working in fast moving contexts - as well as practical methods for social innovation, systems change and collaborative action.