Making the Implicit Explicit: A Theory-Informed Reflective Case of Emergent Evaluation Capacity Building in a Public Training Institution
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Abstract
This reflective essay revisits a period of institutional reform within a public sector institution in East Africa, where evaluation capacity (ECB) practices emerged through routine, embedded practices in daily operations. Using Preskill and Boyle’s (2008) model as a lens, the essay reinterprets these embedded practices to make the implicit explicit. Three domains are highlighted: creating supportive structures and culture, building communities of practice, and integrating evaluation into planning and decision-making, all reinforced by leadership that modeled and sustained evaluative habits. The reflection also surfaces the tensions between theory and practice, showing how ECB unfolds in complex institutional realities, where tensions can open spaces for learning and adaptation. Ultimately, the essay contributes to ECB scholarship by demonstrating how capacity can develop organically through institutional routines and by bridging practitioner experience with scholarly frameworks.
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