Reflections on the role of the evaluator: Recognising value for money and creative learning within regeneration evaluation

Abstract

This paper argues that the way in which current regeneration evaluation is often constructed is focused upon performance management, with far less emphasis placed upon innovative, creative and learning elements. It also argues that a key omission in current evaluation research is a lack of appreciation of the negotiation of evaluator roles, which has implications for the extent to which the evaluator is independent or integrated into the regeneration process. From the authors' collective experiences of local regeneration evaluation and involvement in national evaluation programme evaluation, a typology of evaluation roles is constructed. Four narratives are developed of different roles that an evaluator might play — a monitor, a facilitator, a broker and a critical friend — and the impact that regeneration evaluation has on practice is discussed. The paper concludes by drawing out a series of learning points to help inform the everyday experience of regeneration managers and evaluators, and to assist in developing more appropriate local regeneration evaluation, which promotes an increasingly reflective learning practice.