Eval4Action is calling on organizations to self-report their progress in meaningfully engaging young people in evaluation following the Youth in Evaluation standards . The self-reporting of Youth in Evaluation standards is managed by the EvalYouth Global Network, a co-leader of the Eval4ction campaign.  Through the 2026 self-reporting process, your organization has the opportunity to build on this momentum, share your own successes, and potentially be recognized among the next cohort of Youth in Evaluation champions. Previously in 2024  and 2025 , Youth in Evaluation champions set a high bar for global best practices, strengthening the entire movement to advance meaningful engagement of young people in evaluation. Follow the guidelines below to complete your self-assessment for the 2026 reporting cycle and contribute to the global effort to advance youth in evaluation. The self-assessment should cover activities and initiatives undertaken during 2025. The submission deadline for the 2026 self-assessments is 15 February 2026 . Guidelines for organizations completing their first self-assessment in 2026 If your organization is completing its self-assessment for the first time, follow these seven steps to ensure a thorough and meaningful review of your practices: Find the most relevant standards for your organization. Standards are available for academia, governments, the private sector, international organizations, Voluntary Organizations for Professional Evaluation (VOPEs)/EvalYouth chapters, and youth organizations. Each standard is accompanied by a self-assessment tool. Share and discuss the standards with the leadership/management of your organization. Achieve buy-in and endorsement from your organization’s leadership to ensure the self-assessment is supported and acted upon. Initiate a dialogue within the organization.  Organize a pre-arranged meeting with representatives from each unit or section to discuss current practices in engaging youth in evaluation. Familiarize relevant staff with the Youth in Evaluation standards. Assign a team to undertake the self-assessment. Designate a dedicated team to conduct the review and formulate recommendations to improve organizational practices for advancing the meaningful engagement of youth in evaluation. Conduct your self-assessment using the provided tool. Choose the relevant customized assessment sheet for your organization, which is available for download in two different formats under each standard on this page . Share the self-assessment report. Submit the self-assessment report, including good practices, to contact@eval4action.org  by 15 February 2026 . The report can include the finalized assessment sheet (Excel/Google sheet) together with a slide deck that highlights good practices and progress. Sharing this information facilitates cross-fertilization of knowledge among other organizations. EvalYouth will get back to you if any further information is required for the reported performance.  Guidelines for organizations completing their second or subsequent self-assessment in 2026 These guidelines are for organizations that completed the Youth in Evaluation standards self-assessment in a previous cycle (e.g., in 2025) and are now submitting their subsequent report in 2026. Review your previous self-assessment report.  Begin by reviewing your last report and identify any updates or changes in your reporting. Focus on reporting on 2025 activities and initiatives. While reporting in 2026, focus primarily on activities and initiatives related to youth engagement in evaluation conducted throughout 2025. Remember to consider the long-term validity of certain policies, projects, and resources. For example, if a policy related to youth engagement was reported previously and remains valid for 2025, simply confirm its continued validity and score accordingly. Highlight new initiatives and significant progress. Use the comment section in the sheet to provide details and context about successes, challenges, and any new initiatives or significant progress made since your last assessment. Share the self-assessment report. Submit the self-assessment report, including good practices, to contact@eval4action.org  by 15 February 2026 .

Read updates on the campaign activities and news from partners around the world. If you would like to receive the newsletter directly in your inbox, sign up to receive Eval4Action updates here . As an individual advocate or a partner network, if you have news or information to share with the Eval4Action community, please write to contact@eval4action.org .

On December 10, 2025, Eval4Action marked Human Rights Day with a pivotal Future of Evaluation Dialogue, asking: " Is evaluation key to realizing universal human rights? " The dialogue firmly established that evaluation is not just helpful but essential, even existential, to realizing human rights, especially in times of global setbacks where conflicts, and shrinking civic space are reversing decades of progress. The discussion provided concrete pathways and principles for elevating the human rights-based approach (HRBA) in evaluation by systematically addressing institutional biases and empowering rights-holders. The dialogue also emphasized the critical role of technology and youth in co-creating evaluative evidence, stressing that both must be leveraged responsibly to democratize data and challenge the status quo. Seven quick takeaways from the dialogue Evaluation must be guided by HRBA principles, not just compliance.  Evaluation's primary purpose must be to assess whether people's rights are being respected, protected, and fulfilled, and whether duty-bearers (governments and institutions) are meeting their measurable obligations. This human rights-based approach shifts the focus from simply asking, "Did we deliver services?" to the more transformative question, "Did we advance people's rights?". The principle of transparency, such as making all evaluation findings publicly available, is essential for accountability. Equity requires moving beyond 'Leaving No One Behind' as a slogan.  The imperative to leave no one behind must be deeply embedded in evaluation practice, moving past superficial rhetoric to genuine transformative change. This requires evaluators to address the systemic barriers and structural factors that cause and sustain inequity. It also necessitates shifting the unit of analysis beyond a single project to adopt a longitudinal, ecological view of how interventions collectively improve the lives of the most disadvantaged populations over time. Address power imbalances by making right-holders the primary audience.  The design and implementation of evaluations must actively disrupt the dynamic where evaluation agendas are set by donors or political interests. To transform evidence into a tool of community power, evaluation must be legible, useful, and primarily accountable to the citizens and communities. This involves integrating their lived experiences from the planning phase through the formulation of recommendations and the dissemination of evaluation results. Embrace epistemic humility and diversity in methodology.  A truly transformative evaluation requires a fundamental shift in worldview, demanding epistemic humility from evaluators and funders. This means recognizing that different people think differently about problems and valuing diverse knowledge systems. Evaluators must move beyond methodological debates toward building an ecology of evidence that integrates various tools and respects community context as a measure of evaluation rigor. To truly hear marginalized voices, evaluators need to be more creative and willing to experiment with participatory and inclusive methods to capture different perspectives. Technology must democratize evidence and be used responsibly.  Technology serves as a powerful enabler for HRBA, significantly improving access to information, facilitating inclusive data gathering (e.g., geospatial mapping, mobile surveys), and allowing for earlier detection of human rights issues. However, its use comes with immense responsibility. Evaluators must actively safeguard against the digital divide perpetuating inequality and strictly adhere to data privacy and protection standards, ensuring technology is a tool for democratizing evidence, not just for collecting data faster. Youth must be co-creators, not just data sources.  Youth are essential co-creators in HRBA, bringing passion, creativity, and a deep commitment to social change. Their participation is a matter of both justice  and quality, as their perspectives deepen the understanding of complex change. Youth should be meaningfully engaged throughout the entire evaluation cycle—design, data analysis, and recommendation co-creation—not merely used as sources of data or as a "tick box" exercise. Institutionalize the human rights-based approach for systemic impact.  For evaluation to have a transformative effect, HRBA must be formally institutionalized at the national and organizational levels. The South African example shows that embedding equity and human rights into the national evaluation policy framework ensures evaluation is not an optional technical exercise but a constitutional tool for fairness and accountability. This systemic adoption helps governments correct course and redirect resources towards the historically marginalized. In case you missed the conversation, catch up with the recording The Eval4Action Future of Evaluation dialogues are a series of forward-looking discussions that explore innovative and adaptive approaches to evaluation. Designed to make evaluation more influential in a rapidly changing and complex world, these dialogues bring together a diverse range of voices—from experts to young evaluators—to share knowledge and highlight ways to future-proof the field of evaluation. Each monthly dialogue is aligned with an international action day, ensuring the conversations are timely and relevant to a global discourse.  The next dialogue, “Are we educating evaluators of every generation, for the future?” will take place on 22 January 2026. Register This article was written with AI support with human authors in the lead.

Upholding Youth in Evaluation standards Theme Upholding Youth in Evaluation standards Sub-themes 1. Leadership and accountability 2. Practice 3. Advocacy and capacity building 4. Knowledge management and communication 5. Human resources 6. Financial resources 8 July 2024 | Day 1 9 July 10 July 11 July 12 July Global events Full programme Sub-themes 1-6 English Global inauguration & Youth in Evaluation champion awards Eval4Action 8 July 2024 | 9 am ET Virtual event Details Sub-theme 1 English | French Youth leadership and accountability in evaluation AfrEA YEE Network and EvalYouth 8 July 2024 | 5 pm EAT Virtual event Register Sub-theme 2 English Training on digitalisation tools in monitoring and evaluation Cameroon Society of English Speaking Evaluators 8 July 2024 | 10 am CAT Virtual event Register Sub-theme 3 English Advocating for youth training in evaluation and incorporating evaluation in projects LOVE UNION 8 July 2024 | 10 am CAT In-person (Cameroon) Contact Sub-theme 3 English Young and emerging evaluators in advocacy spaces EvalYouth North America 8 July 2024 | 12 pm CST Virtual event Recording Sub-theme 1, 2, 3 English Engaging young practitioners in enhancing evaluation ecosystem in India Community of Evaluators South Asia and Sambodhi Research and Communications 8 July 2024 | 4 pm IST Virtual event Register Sub-theme 4 French From the state of confusion to the lessons learned from an emerging evaluator SenEval (Association Sénégalaise d'Evaluation) 8 July 2024 | 1 pm GMT Virtual event Recording 9 July 2024

An inclusive and intergenerational gathering of the global evaluation community programme day 1 day 2 day 3 day 4 day 5 career development full programme global events communications pack inclusive and intergenerational gathering of the global evaluation community Strengthening the voice, learning and prosperity of young evaluators, aligned with the United Nations Secretary-General’s Our Common Agenda Quick snapshot of events yiew global registration global events global inauguration of youth in evaluation week details launch of standards: enhancing youth engagement in evaluation standards for governments and academia details standards for international organizations and the private sector details standards for youth organizations and VOPEs details twitter spaces EvalYouth experiences details learning and job opportunities in evaluation details what have we learned at the youth in evaluation week? (concluding event) details YieW learnmore learn more Youth in Evaluation week concept note Youth in Evaluation initiative: sign the manifesto Standards for enhancing meaningful engagement of youth in evaluation Communications pack Reach out to contact@eval4action.org with any questions

Youth in Evaluation champion awards recognized organizations across sectors and regions for their exemplary efforts to advance youth engagement in evaluation. Youth in Evaluation champions 2024 The first Youth in Evaluation champion awards were announced on 8 July 2024, during the global launch of 2024 Youth in Evaluation week , grounded in the Youth in Evaluation standards. The initial round of self-assessments in 2024 against the standards drew submissions from 45 organizations spanning academia, VOPEs, youth organizations, international organizations, and the private sector. In addition, 17 UN agencies were assessed based on data collected during the ‘Mapping of engagement of young and emerging evaluators (YEEs) in UN agencies’, an initiative led by the UNEG working group on YEEs. These assessments were validated by the respective UN offices. Building on this recognition, Youth in Evaluation champions offered in-depth perspectives on their initiatives through a series of blogs starting in October 2024. Read the blogs Furthermore, in November 2024, the first cohort of Youth in Evaluation champions convened for an X Space discussion. They shared innovative practices and valuable lessons learned in their efforts to advance meaningful youth engagement in evaluation. Learn more Meet the 2024 champions Organizations that score in the exceeding requirement category of the Youth in Evaluation standards Self-assessment sheet Self-assessment sheet Self-assessment sheet Self-assessment sheet Self-assessment sheet Self-assessment sheet Organizations that score in the meeting requirement category of the Youth in Evaluation standards Self-assessment sheet Self-assessment sheet Self-assessment sheet Self-assessment sheet Self-assessment sheet Self-assessment sheet Self-assessment sheet Self-assessment sheet Self-assessment sheet Self-assessment sheet Self-assessment sheet Self-assessment sheet Self-assessment sheet Organizations with the highest performance across six dimensions of the Youth in Evaluation standards Champion for upholding leadership and accountability for youth in evaluation Champion for upholding youth engagement in evaluation practice Champion for upholding advocacy efforts and capacity development for youth in evaluation Champion for upholding knowledge management and communication practices that advance youth in evaluation Champion for advancing young professionals in evaluation jobs Champion for advancing financial resources for youth in evaluation