The CES 2019-2024 strategic plan identifies leadership in environmental sustainability as a guiding principle to be embodied through CES operations and professional evaluation practice. Switching C2021 to a virtual format has eliminated the “footprint” of the major categories of resource consumption that previous in-person CES Conferences have worked to reduce and/or mitigate, such as: venue, hotel, transportation, catering, and print communications. C2021 Environmental Sustainability effort has focussed on having a positive “handprint” through communication, engagement, and professional development that raises awareness of the intersection of environmental stewardship with other C2021 values of Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Active Reconciliation. Here are some C2021 environmental sustainability highlights.

Pre-conference Workshops

• Tuesday May 4, 15:00-18:30 (Eastern): Sustainability-ready evaluation: for young and emerging evaluators with Andy Rowe, Francois Dumaine, Debbie DeLancey.
• Wednesday, May 5, 15:00-18:30 (Eastern): Sustainability-ready evaluation: moving from theory to practice with Andy Rowe, Francois Dumaine, Debbie DeLancey.
• Wednesday May 5 & Thursday May 6, 11:00-14:30 (Eastern): Learning as you go in becoming part of the solution as a blue marble evaluator (BME) in the public sector, with Keiko Kuji-Shikatani.

Networking Session

• Monday May 10, 13:30-14:00 (Eastern): Sustainability evaluation for transformation at the nexus of human and natural systems. Join hosts Andy Rowe, Andrealisa Belzer and Ilunga Bukasa for informal networking among colleagues focussed on sustainability-focussed evaluators, Blue Marble Evaluators, and other systems-informed approaches to address the Anthropocene.

Presentations

• Monday, May 10, 15:15-16:15 (Eastern): Do you like Green Eggs and Ham? Scaling up an evaluative rubric to achieve CES sustainability goals, with Andrealisa Belzer following up on a national webinar (May 6), this session will encourage delegates to engage with three sustainability principles and adapt a rubric to support implementation, informed by her “lessons learned.”

Friday, May 14, 13:00-14:00 (Eastern): Is Evaluation in Canada Ready for Sustainability? with Andy Rowe, Debbie DeLancey, Susanna Beaudin, Juha Uitto, Miek Van Gaalen. This session shares findings of a Stocktaking Report. Andy has recently partnered with Better Evaluation to found “Footprint Evaluation.” He has contributed a chapter to Evaluating Environment in International Development, a 2021 open-access publication edited by Juha Uitto, Director of the Independent Evaluation Office of the Global Environment Facility (GEF).