Written by: EnCompass Staff

The EnCompass Learning Center (ELC) is committed to helping strengthen communities and organizations through the use of evidence, learning, and leadership development. Our partnership with EvalYouth to provide scholarships for young and emerging evaluators is an important part of our Eval4Action commitments. The ELC offers high-quality online learning programs to participants from around the world. Our work is guided by a commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion for participants and faculty. It is an honor to welcome EvalYouth members to our community of learners.

Sana Ben Salem, one of our EvalYouth scholarship awardees who is based in Tunisia, is an emerging leader for several international evaluation networks, including EvalMENA and EvalSDGs. She is the EvalMENA International Organization for Cooperation in Evaluation representative, the focal point person for the Tunisian Evaluation Network, and the former co-chair of the professional insertion working group for the Francophone Network of Young and Emerging Evaluators. Sana has been instrumental in supporting EvalYouth’s Task Force 1, focused on increasing the involvement of young and emerging evaluators in Voluntary Organizations for Professional Evaluation (VOPEs’) activities, governance, and leadership.

Ms. Ben Salem is a PhD candidate in management and strategy with a focus on digital business models.  She attended the Facilitating Evaluation course with Dr. Michael Quinn Patton.

What are you excited to take back from the Facilitating Evaluation course into your work?

I am so happy to have had the opportunity to attend this great course. What I valued most was the innovative design that focused on putting theory into practice. This is something that is missing in most evaluation courses. The instructor provided us with many additional materials and readings to boost our knowledge and assigned homework that gave us time to think through what we learned. Facilitation skills are crucial at each step of the evaluation process. Through acquiring strong skills in facilitating evaluation, we can change the status quo by reducing resistance to change.

I also appreciated the chance to network with peers. The course’s interactive elements meant we were able to hear from each other about evaluation experiences in many diverse fields—food security, social inclusion, and humanitarian assistance. I highly recommend this course.

Join the ELC community

We look forward to welcoming more young and emerging evaluators to our courses through this partnership with EvalYouth and the scholarship program. We encourage you to sign up to attend Dr. Michael Quinn Patton’s Facilitating Evaluation course this June. To hear about upcoming ELC courses, scholarships, and other news, please sign up for our ELC mailing list and visit the Course Catalog.