Review: “Communities of Practice within and across Organizations. A Guidebook” (2nd edition) by Etienne Wenger-Trayner, Beverly Wenger-Trayner, Phil Reid and Claude Bruderlein Most books on organizational learning describe what communities of practice are. This one tells you how to run them. The second edition of the CoP Guidebook, co-authored by four practitioners across corporate, academic, … Read more
The following references reflect a track record of Karsten Weitzenegger built over more than 30 years of consulting and evaluation work across Africa, the Americas, Asia, and Europe. Capacity Development & Facilitation Germany: Delivered GIZ staff trainings on minimum standards for integrity and misconduct reporting access as Trainer, funded by BMZ via GIZ. Germany: Facilitated … Read more
Key Takeaways from the 4th DC dVET BarCamp On 24 February 2026, practitioners, policymakers, researchers, and development partners gathered at the 4th BarCamp co-hosted by DC dVET and the International Labor Organization (ILO) to address a pressing question: how can we build resilient and sustainable financing models for dual vocational education and training (VET) in … Read more
(tl;dr) East Africa’s startup scene is booming – but many incubators and accelerators are stuck in a cycle of donor dependence, generic programmes and weak investor trust. A new William Davidson Institute study maps these system failures and, more importantly, presents 25 concrete solutions: from revenue-generating “acceleration as a service” and sector‑specific support, to venture … Read more
In the midst of war, Ukrainian women are not only holding the fabric of society together – they are building the future of its economy. The webinar “Female Entrepreneurship in Times of War,” hosted on December 3, 2025, by the Secretariat of the Platform for the Reconstruction of Ukraine and Germany Trade and Invest GmbH, … Read more
Global Gateway: The EU launches new regional initiatives in Africa to boost youth mobility and skills, including the unique Africa-Europe Youth Academy Today at the Global Gateway High-Level Event on Education in Brussels, European Commissioner for International Partnerships Jutta Urpilainen launched new regional programmes boosting youth mobility and skills in Africa. The Team Europe Initiative on Opportunity-driven Skills … Read more
We had a discussion today among colleagues of INTRAC and other leading organisations on decolonising consultancy. Here are some thoughts about it. Please follow INTRAC and join the discussion: https://www.intrac.org/tag/decolonising-consultancy/ Is international development consulting colonial? In certain ways, international development consulting can be characterised as colonial, however it is crucial to emphasize that this definition … Read more
Speaking evidence to power Reporting evaluation results and communicating them effectively to policymakers and program managers is critical for improving uptake at the policy level and programming. By following the recommendations outlined in this article, evaluators can safeguard that their evaluation results are clear, concise, and actionable, and that they are communicated in a way … Read more
What’s s happening in development evaluation? How often do development projects include evaluation – and what kinds? How are evaluators chosen? How big are their budgets? How satisfactory are their results? To provide a snapshot of development evaluation today, the Society for International Development’s Washington Chapter partnered with Charney Research to survey development professionals, including … Read more
What matters to me more than who is right or wrong, is that we need to draw on each and every method to deepen our understanding of what happened, how and why. More: Embrace all evaluation methods – can we end the debate? | Independent Evaluation Group.
Berlin – Today German federal development minister Dirk Niebel and his State Secretary Hans-Jürgen Beerfeltz have opened the new independent evaluation institute of the German developing cooperation with the name “DEval”. The independent evaluation institute DEval is owned by the Federal Government and has 38 staff based in Bonn. It is headed by the renowned … Read more
How can donors and partner countries assess the intended and unintended consequences of donor interventions? The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) explores ex ante Poverty Impact Assessment (PIA), which can assist in modifying the design of interventions to improve pro-poor impacts by identifying key areas for monitoring and evaluation (M&E). It can be … Read more
