News and Events - In category Workshop » Aotearoa New Zealand Evaluation Association

Category: Workshop

Value for Money Workshop with Julian King - 6th and 13th August

Making difficult decisions about the allocation of limited resources is a persistent challenge for public services. During periods of fiscal constraint, the pressure to make wise choices intensifies. While there is strong demand for return-on-investment indicators - such as estimating the social value created for every dollar invested - these metrics provide only a partial view of value-for-money, especially in complex social settings.

The Value for Investment (VfI) approach addresses this challenge by integrating insights from both economics and evaluation. VfI uses evaluative reasoning, mixed methods, and stakeholder participation to deliver a more nuanced, robust assessment - one that reflects the complexity of real-world social investments.

We are pleased to invite you to join Julian King for an introductory workshop on the VfI approach. In this session, you will learn how to:

Pose and answer critical questions about good resource use to create social, cultural, environmental, and/or economic value.
Define value-for-money in the context of specific policies or programmes.
Select and justify a combination of methods from evaluation and economics.
Make robust evaluative judgements and communicate findings clearly to decision-makers.

This interactive workshop is not designed to make you an economist; other training opportunities exist for those seeking in-depth knowledge of methods such as social cost-benefit analysis or social return on investment. Instead, this session provides an overarching framework and practical skills to guide evaluation design, the savvy use of qualitative, quantitative, and economic methods, and the synthesis of mixed methods evidence to reach and report clear judgements.

While the workshop focuses on providing better answers to value-for-money questions, the rubrics-based skills you will acquire are transferable to any evaluation context.

This workshop is ideal for evaluators, policy analysts, government officials, NGO staff, development practitioners, and consultants (whether novice, intermediate, or advanced) seeking a practical, evidence-based approach that is used worldwide to assess value-for-money in complex policies and social investments.

Julian King is an Auckland-based public policy consultant. His professional background includes over 20 years evaluating policies and programmes in high, middle and low-income countries. Julian developed the Value for Investment approach through doctoral research. He received the 2021 Australian Evaluation Society (AES) Evaluation System Award in recognition of the contribution made through the VfI approach. Julian is a member of the Kinnect Group, an Associate of Oxford Policy Management, a member of Verian Group's Centre for Value for Money (VfM), an Honorary Fellow at the University of Melbourne and a University Fellow at the Northern Institute. He is a member of ANZEA and the evaluation societies of Australia, UK, USA, and Europe. Julian specialises in evaluation and VfI capability development.

Posted in News, ANZEA Event, Workshop, professional development event, Professional Development Events; Posted 2 days ago By Chanel Partridge Less than a minute to read

Evaluation Fundamentals 102 - 21st & 28th August

Keep learning about what evaluation is and how to do it in this second Evaluation Basics course, where you’ll learn more about how to design and deliver a robust evaluation.

Posted in News, Professional Development Events, Workshop, ANZEA Event; Tagged News; Posted 36 days ago By Chanel Partridge Less than a minute to read

Evaluation Fundamentals 101 - 23 & 29th July

Learn what evaluation is, when it can be used, and when it's useful. Discover what some of the essential tools and skills are for your evaluation toolkit.

Posted in News, ANZEA Event, Professional Development Events, Workshop; Posted 36 days ago By Chanel Partridge Less than a minute to read

8th &15th May 2025: Designing surveys that people will trust - an Online Workshop with Adrian Field

Surveys are often a key element of evaluation practice, but are increasingly challenged by the multitudes of surveys simultaneously in the field, each fighting for the attention of their respondents.

Register for our professional development workshop where you will interactively learn about the promise and perils of survey design, have opportunities to design and test survey questions, and explore options for implementing surveys.

Posted in Professional Development Events, ANZEA Event, Workshop, News; Posted 12 months ago By Tess Laurenson 1 Minute(s) to read

29th August & 3rd September: Evaluation Fundamentals 101 - An Online Workshop with Kara Scally-Irvine

Learn what evaluation is, when it can be used, and why it's useful. Discover what some of the essential tools and skills are for your toolkit.

This workshop is aimed at those who are new to the profession, or for those who feel they need a refresher. It is suitable for those working in both government and not-for-profit, as well as anyone working in private consulting.

Posted in Workshop, ANZEA Event, Professional Development Events; Posted 12 months ago By Tess Laurenson 1 Minute(s) to read

24th Sept & 26th Sept: Evaluation Basics 102 - An Online Workshop with Kara Scally-Irvine

Part two of our Evaluation Basics workshop series. Highly recommended you attend both for a comprehensive learning experience.

Posted in Professional Development Events, Workshop, ANZEA Event; Posted 12 months ago By Tess Laurenson 1 Minute(s) to read