Tuesday, May 19, 3:30pm Eastern
Title: Career Development In Evaluation Training: Navigating The Evaluation Ecosystem And Building Skills To Grow Your Career
Abstract: This interactive workshop strengthens participants’ capacity to navigate and intentionally redesign their professional toolkit as evaluators, using C2026 as a strategic lever for career growth. Participants will deepen their understanding of the evolving evaluation landscape in North America, explore diverse career pathways, and critically reflect on which skills, tools, and approaches to retain, adapt, or set aside as they advance in the field. Through facilitated discussions and hands-on activities, participants will identify career goals, assess competency gaps, and develop practical, values-informed steps to move forward amid complexity and power dynamics that shape evaluative practice. It’ll emphasize adaptive career development tools that support evaluators in providing timely, relevant, and ethically grounded contributions in a rapidly changing context. Facilitators will share reflections from their career journeys, highlighting how they have met emerging challenges within the evaluation ecosystem. Hosted by EvalYouth North America, this workshop offers a supportive space for young and emerging evaluators to engage candidly with questions of entry and growth in the field. This training was developed in partnership by EvalYouth Global Network, UNFPA Evaluation Office, P2P+ Initiative, and the Global Evaluation Initiative. Adapted annually, the training reflects the ongoing transformation of the evaluator’s toolkit to remain responsive and future-oriented.
Speakers: Erika Lemon, Jeydelyn Martinez
Type: Express workshop (90 minutes, online)
Language: English
Presenters- Expertise: Both Jeydelyn Martinez and Erika Lemon are young and/or emerging evaluators who bring diverse, firsthand experience navigating career development in evaluation and the broader evaluation ecosystem through their academic and professional work.
Jeydelyn Martinez holds a Dialogue Facilitation certificate from Soliya (2021) and has extensive experience in facilitation. As an Impact Manager at Four Corners Global Consulting Group, Jeydelyn co-facilitated a Monitoring and Evaluation workshop in Mexico City with clients, as well as a session with a local non-profit organization this year (2025). Previously, as an Assistant Project Manager on a research and evaluation team at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Jeydelyn played a key role in facilitating discussions. Additionally, during her tenure as a Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship Ambassador, Jeydelyn led multiple international education and scholarship workshops across more than a dozen universities.
Erika Lemon brings diverse facilitation experience. She has delivered training workshops on a range of health and well-being topics, facilitated strategic planning sessions, guest lectured in university courses related to evaluation and social work, moderated panel discussions, and taught English as a Second Language workshops.
Workshop-level: Beginner
Prerequisite-knowledge: Participant(s) should a be young and emerging evaluator (i.e. someone who is under 35 years old, has less than five years of professional experience, is currently a student or is a recent university graduate).
Learning-Objectives:
1. Upon completion, participant will be able to Identify where they want to fit within the North American evaluation ecosystem.
2. Upon completion, participant will be able to conduct a competence self-assessment to identify what skills need to be strengthened to achieve their career goals and identify pathways for skills development.
3. Upon completion, participant will be able to describe practical steps they can take to leverage existing opportunities, address challenges, and advance their career.
Teaching-Strategies : The following learning strategies in our workshop combine interactive, reflective, and collaborative methods to promote active learning. Lectures provide foundational knowledge, including key evaluation concepts and the evaluation ecosystem. Group activities encourage peer learning, helping participants explore motivations for evaluation careers and collaboratively map the evaluation landscape. Competency self-assessments and elevator pitch exercises support self-reflection, enabling participants to identify skills, clarify career goals, and practice professional communication. Peer practice time reinforces learning through hands-on experience and feedback. Lastly, a candid Q&A session creates space for open dialogue on challenges and barriers, fostering critical thinking and problem-solving.