This article examines the development and adoption of competencies1 in Canada, created as a key foundation of the Credentialed Evaluator designation under the auspices of the Canadian Evaluation Society (CES). Following a brief description of the Canadian evaluation context and issues that led to the competencies' development, this article reviews the development process. The approved Competencies for Canadian Evaluation Practice are presented with concluding comments on the future of competencies in Canada.

This article reports on the efforts of the Japan Evaluation Society (JES), in collaboration with the Canadian Evaluation Society, to develop and pilot test an accreditation and certification scheme for school evaluators. The purpose of the JES accreditation model is to support evaluation capacity building and promote high quality evaluation by developing functional evaluation competencies. The article describes the theory and practice of the JES approach to evaluation training and accreditation, including its overall rationale, the influence of Japan's socio-political context, the content of the school evaluator training program, and the findings of the initial "test of concept" pilot test in Hiroshima. Based on a six-month follow-up evaluation, the article also provides an assessment of the acceptance, early results, and potential sustainability of the evaluator training program. These findings have encouraged the JES to establish the accreditation scheme for school evaluation, followed by a similar system for the evaluation of international development assistance programs and government policy evaluation. The development of the JES accreditation scheme should be of interest to other evaluation societies and also to public/nonprofit organizations that must use brief training courses or evaluation "toolkits" for building evaluation competencies quickly among staff.

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How do you make a professional designation program happen within one year? What resources, processes, systems, and structures are required? This article describes how the Canadian Evaluation Society (CES) implemented its national Credentialed Evaluator (CE) program through the dedication of volunteer members of the CES. The interdisciplinary nature of evaluation practice shaped the development of systems, policy, administrative procedures, governance, and management for the credentialing process. Consideration of political issues and communication with the stakeholder community were essential to the credibility of the implementation process.