TO REGISTER CLICK HERE
Presenters:
Andy Rowe Footprint Evaluation
Jane Davidson Footprint Evaluation
Thomaz Chianca Footprint Evaluation
Dugan Fraser Footprint Evaluation
The Environmental Sustainability (ES) Community of Interest is hosting a webinar aligned with the theme of the 2026 Canadian Evaluation Society conference (C2026). This session, led by the experts from the Footprint Evaluation team, will offer practical knowledge and tools to address the polycrisis—a context in which human and natural systems (economic, social, environmental, geopolitical, and technological) interact in ways that amplify one another, producing impacts more severe than any single crisis.
Evaluation now operates under conditions of complexity, where shocks in one system (such as climate change, financial instability, inequality, pandemics, and political conflict) cascade into others. In this context, Footprint Evaluation emphasizes the role of evaluation as a systems-thinking practice—one that moves beyond assessing individual interventions to fostering deeper understanding of complex systems, guiding strategic responses, and strengthening democratic processes needed to navigate uncertainty.
This webinar will explore the "POWER OF AND" thinking approach developed by the Footprint Evaluation team, highlighting how evaluators can balance competing priorities such as accessibility, diversity, economic growth, environmental sustainability, equity, Indigenous sovereignty, and social cohesion. Effective responses to polycrisis require insights that recognize problems as both shaped by and contributing to other system crises. The Footprint Evaluation website (footprintevaluation.org) offers guidance, tools, and processes to support evaluations that embrace AND thinking.
These materials have been developed over seven years by the Footprint Evaluation team, in collaboration with partners across Latin America, Europe, and North America.