Hello reader. My name is Eddah Kanini, a Monitoring, Evaluation and Gender specialist and trainer.

I want to share how joining a professional network like the EvalSDGs guidance group of the EvalPartners has contributed to my personal and professional transformative change and growth. I joined the network as a young and fairly shy person but with determined to learn, be better at what I do but most importantly, make a contribution or bring a change in the society through my profession. I was surprised at the open-door policy and respect practiced by the network members. 

Unfortunately, I previously had an unpleasant experience in a network which was a space of discouragement being singularly led and managed with the boss at the top, rudely shoving off any members who attempted to grow professionally, and resulting to defamation and character assassination of any member who dared be active or dreamed of moving forward in the Evaluation profession.

As a member of the EvalSDG guidance group, I quickly learned that the strength of a network is positively affected by the frequency and intensity of meetings. They are consistently conducted every second week of the month without fail and this has strengthened the relationship ties within and has led to stability in planning to attend and make a contribution. It is in these meetings that both the complex and tacit knowledge is shared and rigorous planning of activities such as the evaluation dialogues and evaluation insights notes is done. The strong ties, and frequency of interaction, have led to intense and rich communication between and across individuals. Read more..