Psychedelics 2.0

This chapter focuses on psychedelics as another emerging front in the war over the war on drugs in the mid 2010s, with most psychedelic substances, such as LSD, mescaline, and psilocybin, being Schedule I listed since 1970. It explains how the scheduling imposed significant barriers to scientific research on hallucinogenic substances and their effects, through stringent security requirements, FDA approval, and expensive DEA licensing fees for institutions working with the drugs. It also recounts the creation of the Pilot Drug Evaluation Staff by the FDA in 1989, which made it easier for the scientific community to liaise with the administration. The chapter refers to Dr. Richard Strassman, who managed to get a research protocol involving DMT and psilocybin off the ground. It details how Strassman defended his work by arguing that hallucinogens elicit a multifaceted clinical syndrome.

Explaining the political use of evaluation in international organizations

Despite a growing literature on the politics of evaluation in international organizations (IOs) and beyond, little is known about whether political or administrative stakeholders indeed realize ex-ante political interests through evaluations. This is, however, especially important considering the booming business of evaluation and the proliferation of institutional assessments both in domestic and international politics. We argue that formally independent IO evaluation units informally orientate towards either member states or the IO administration, depending on who controls the unit’s budget, staff, and agenda resources. This should enable either actor to also use evaluation results along pre-defined strategic interests. Interview data gathered among evaluators, secretariat officials, and member state representatives of six IOs support the expected pattern, highlighting striking differences in the orientation of evaluation staff and evaluation use. Findings challenge the technocratic, apolitical image of evaluation, offering practical and theoretical implications for future research.

A qualitative evaluation of healthy weight services in a local authority in England

Objective: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the healthy weight services in one local authority in England, where obesity levels have been above the national average since 2006. Design: We conducted process and outcome evaluation using a qualitative methodology. Data were generated in focus group discussions and semi-structured interviews with clients, practitioners, healthcare professionals and volunteers. Results: A total of 91 individuals from six services participated in the evaluation. Staff competencies and empowerment outcomes were identified as areas of strength. However, despite examples of excellent practice and enthusiastic recommendations from clients, access and referral processes were areas of weakness. Conclusion: In England, local authorities have an important role to play in tackling obesity. It is crucial that they are provided with the tools to be able to implement healthy weight interventions effectively. A whole-systems approach presents a real opportunity for staff in local authorities and public health to work collaboratively and innovatively towards the same goal of continuous improvement in obesity management.

Strategic Evaluation Utilization in the Canadian Federal Government

Given the potential of the federal program evaluation function to inform decision-making at the highest levels of government, this project sought to investigate the nature and extent to which program evaluation findings are used as part of spending reviews and other reallocation exercises in selected government organizations. The multiple case study design used in this investigation included a qualitative content analysis of evaluation reports published between 2010 and 2013 as well as a series of key informant interviews conducted with evaluation staff and program managers. The findings show very little evidence of strategic evaluation utilization by organizational leaders; this is thought to be due to a few key factors: a) the requirements of the Policy on Evaluation (2009) that was in effect at the time of the study; b) the program-level focus of the evaluations; and c) the public nature of the evaluation reports. L’étude présentée dans cet article avait pour but d’examiner l’utilisation des évaluations fédérales lors des exercices de révision budgétaire et de réaffectation des ressources financières au gouvernement fédéral. Notre étude de cas multiples comprenait à la fois une analyse de contenu qualitative de rapports d’évaluation publiés entre 2010 et 2013 ainsi que des entretiens semi-dirigés auprès d’évaluateurs et de gestionnaires de programmes. Nos résultats démontrent qu’en général, les évaluations n’ont pas servi à la prise de décisions stratégiques par la haute direction. Nous croyons que trois éléments sont en cause : a) les exigences de la Politique sur l’évaluation (2009) en vigueur pendant notre étude ; b) la portée des évaluations fédérales, qui ont tendance à évaluer un seul programme ; et c) la diffusion publique des rapports d’évaluation.

Using theories of change to design monitoring and evaluation of community engagement in research: experiences from a research institute in Malawi

Background: Evaluation of community and public engagement in research is important to deepen understanding of how engagement works and to enhance its effectiveness. Theories of change have been recommended for evaluating community engagement, for their ability to make explicit intended outcomes and understandings of how engagement activities contribute to these outcomes. However, there are few documented examples of using theories of change for evaluation of engagement. This article reports experience of using theories of change to develop a framework for evaluating community engagement in research at a clinical research organisation in Malawi. We describe the steps used to develop theories of change, and the way theories of change were used to design data collection plans. Based on our experience, we reflect on the advantages and challenges of the theory of change approach. Methods: The theories of change and evaluation framework were developed through a series of workshops and meetings between engagement practitioners, monitoring and evaluation staff, and researchers. We first identified goals for engagement, then used ‘so that’ chains to clarify pathways and intermediate outcomes between engagement activities and goals. Further meetings were held to refine initial theories of change, identify priority information needs, and define feasible evaluation methods. Results: The theory of change approach had several benefits. In particular, it helped to construct an evaluation framework focused on relevant outcomes and not just activities. The process of reflecting on intended goals and pathways also helped staff to review the design of engagement activities. Challenges included practical considerations around time to consider evaluation plans among practitioners (a challenge for evaluation more generally regardless of method), and more fundamental difficulties related to identifying feasible and agreed outcomes. Conclusions: These experiences from Malawi provide lessons for other research organisations considering use of theories of change to support evaluation of community engagement.

Making Evaluation More Responsive to Policy Needs: The Case of the Labour Market Development Agreements

This note describes how Employment and Social Development Canada evaluation staff transformed the Labour Market Development Agreement (LMDA) evaluation process to make it more timely, cost-effective, and relevant for policy de-velopment. The note provides background on the LMDAs and discusses key drivers for changing the evaluation approach. In particular, it describes the benefits of using small targeted studies, rich administrative panel data, and building in-house evalu-ation capacity. It concludes with some lessons learned for the evaluation practice.Cette note décrit comment l’équipe de l’évaluation de programmes à Emploi et Développement social Canada a transformé l’évaluation des ententes sur le développement du marché du travail (EDMT) afin d’accroître sa pertinence pour le développement des politiques, réduire le temps nécessaire pour conduire l’évaluation et rendre le processus plus efficient. Cette note présente les EDMT et décrit les facteurs qui ont conduit à changer l’approche d’évaluation. De façon spéci-fique, elle présente les avantages de mener de petites études d’évaluation ciblées, de miser sur l’analyse de données administratives longitudinales et de développer une capacité d’évaluation interne. Elle conclue avec des leçons apprises pour la pratique de l’évaluation.

Challenges to Evaluating Physical Activity Programs in American Indian/Alaska Native Communities

Despite the importance of evaluation to successful programming, a lack of physical activity program (PAP) evaluation for American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) programs exists, which is significant given the high rates of obesity and diabetes in this population. While evaluation barriers have been identified broadly among AI/AN programs, challenges specific to physical activity (PA) programming are unexplored. To address this gap, a research study was conducted involving 17 in-depth interviews with evaluation staff of externally funded AI/AN PAPs. A thematic analysis revealed factors hindering meaningful program evaluation: cultural characteristics that challenge traditional evaluation, the logistics of PA programming, measurement and data collection challenges, lack of resources and support, and lack of alignment between funding agency requirements and the evaluation desired by AI/AN organizations. Some challenges are general to PAPs and others specific to AI/AN organizations. Findings identify ways to improve culturally responsive evaluation for AI/AN PAPs.

Returning to Provide Staff Development in Teaching and English Language at an Evangelical Lutheran Church of Tanzania (ELCT)

This report summarizes the staff development provided to secondary teachers at four dioceses schools in the North and South Pare of Tanzania in 2014. Included is information supporting the need for a seminar on English conversation and teaching strategies, overview of the ELCT schools educational system, the seminar curriculum including past training experiences, the dioceses project proposal submission, and the staff development interest survey. The report also discusses project goals, scheduling and attendance by participants in the seminar at the schools, information about the teachers’ subject content areas of instruction, and reported years of teaching experience. Discussion of classroom visitations and observations and the use of technology are presented. A Post-Evaluation: Staff Development Implementation Survey discussing potential use of the strategies with students is also presented. A teacher evaluation of the seminar and a proposal with further recommendations are provided. This is the fourth on-site seminar provided to the schools since 2006, 2008 and 2011 by the author.

Problems and prospects of tourism development in the industrial region (the experience of the Perm region)

The development of domestic tourism - strategic goal of the state that is achieved by the implementation of the measures in various areas of tourism development, both at the federal level and regional. Of particular interest are industrial developed regions, among them the Perm region occupies a special place because has great natural resources and well-developed industrial infrastructure, unique monuments of history. The development plans of the region, the presence of a developed industry require special attention in the organization of rest and recovery workers in various industries. In the Region implementing the state program for development of infrastructure of the tourist complex with funding through public-private partnerships, promotion of tourism resources in foreign and domestic tourist markets, the creation of the scientific base for the tourism development, the introduction of innovations in tourism. Priority directions in development are conference and business tourism, active, cultural, educational and cultural event, primary wellness tourism, cruise tourism, which is confirmed by the research. The state program envisages measures to increase the attractiveness of the region as a tourist destination. The article analyses the problems and directions of tourism development on the basis of systematic approach. The analysis showed that the elements of the system approach in the program are not implemented, but the possibilities for their implementation are: the development of public-private partnership, development of selfregulation and the use of tourist information centers. Authors give the suggestions for the implementation of public-private partnerships, the strengthening of state control and attraction of public organizations in the sphere of tourism, evaluation, staff development, motivation of the travel industry in the field of quality assurance.