Thank you for the rich and inspiring reflections shared during the first week of our discussion. As we move into Week 2, we invite you to continue sharing your experiences, tools, and examples this time focusing on two key questions:
How can collaboration with local staff or external partners improve communication relevance and reach?
What low-cost or no-cost strategies have you used to share findings in accessible, engaging ways?
Your insights will help highlight practical, context-driven solutions that make evaluation findings not only more visible but also more meaningful and actionable for the audiences we serve.
Let’s keep the conversation going: in English,French, or Spanish and continue learning from each other’s innovative communication approaches.
Here are my key takeaways from the discussion:
From compliance to use
A number of you highlighted how often evaluation is still seen mainly as a compliance exercise and how that shapes the way communication is (or isn’t) approached. If the goal is simply to “tick the box,” the result is often a long report uploaded to a little-known part of a website, with no follow-up and little uptake.
But many of you are pushing back against that. If done right, communication can shift the perception of evaluation from something static and technical to something dynamic and useful. Communicating well can help make evaluation visible, relevant, and connected to real decisions. And in doing so, it helps reposition the evaluation function.
Communication as the glue
When findings are clear, accessible, and responsive to decision-makers' needs, the evaluation function itself becomes more integrated and respected. In this sense, communication isn’t just about visibility it’s about positioning evaluation as a key contributor to learning and strategic thinking. Communication is ‘the glue that binds it all together : it should support adaptive management, ensuring that learning flows continuously through planning, monitoring, and evaluation cycles.
From communication to co-creation
There’s strong agreement that communication needs to start early during the design phase, not just once the report is drafted. Whether it’s through a stakeholder mapping exercise, a dissemination matrix, or informal conversations, early planning helps clarify who we’re trying to reach, what they care about, and how best to get messages across.
Communication isn’t just about products it’s also about process. When stakeholders are involved throughout the evaluation not just consulted at the end, they’re more likely to take the findings seriously. The richest learning moments arise not in final presentations, but in the interactions between evaluators and stakeholders, the spontaneous conversations and joint reflections that deepen understanding and build ownership. "People who can truly drive change are usually not the ones reading reports. They are the ones living the realities we’re trying to understand".
Keep it Simple, Keep it Human!
We’ve all read reports that are 100+ pages long, dense with text and jargon, and difficult to get through. And while formal reports still have their place especially for accountability many of you pointed out the importance of creating complementary products that are short, visual, and engaging.
Suggestions included: short videos and animations, infographics or dashboard, blog posts and human stories, podcasts or short social media pieces.
These aren’t just “add-ons” they’re "gateways" to open the door for wider use and engagement. In today’s context, there are no excuses: new technologies allow evaluators to produce interactive content that makes results memorable and actionable with minimal cost.
A shared conclusion
As evaluators experiment with new tools and participatory approaches, one message stands out across this discussion: "Communication is not the end of evaluation, it is the bridge between evidence and action."
RE: Beyond the final report: What does it take to communicate evaluation well?
Italy
Silvio Galeano
Communications Consultant
FAO
Posted on 27/10/2025
Thank you for the rich and inspiring reflections shared during the first week of our discussion. As we move into Week 2, we invite you to continue sharing your experiences, tools, and examples this time focusing on two key questions:
Your insights will help highlight practical, context-driven solutions that make evaluation findings not only more visible but also more meaningful and actionable for the audiences we serve.
Let’s keep the conversation going: in English, French, or Spanish and continue learning from each other’s innovative communication approaches.
Here are my key takeaways from the discussion:
From compliance to use
A number of you highlighted how often evaluation is still seen mainly as a compliance exercise and how that shapes the way communication is (or isn’t) approached. If the goal is simply to “tick the box,” the result is often a long report uploaded to a little-known part of a website, with no follow-up and little uptake.
But many of you are pushing back against that. If done right, communication can shift the perception of evaluation from something static and technical to something dynamic and useful. Communicating well can help make evaluation visible, relevant, and connected to real decisions. And in doing so, it helps reposition the evaluation function.
Communication as the glue
When findings are clear, accessible, and responsive to decision-makers' needs, the evaluation function itself becomes more integrated and respected. In this sense, communication isn’t just about visibility it’s about positioning evaluation as a key contributor to learning and strategic thinking. Communication is ‘the glue that binds it all together : it should support adaptive management, ensuring that learning flows continuously through planning, monitoring, and evaluation cycles.
From communication to co-creation
There’s strong agreement that communication needs to start early during the design phase, not just once the report is drafted. Whether it’s through a stakeholder mapping exercise, a dissemination matrix, or informal conversations, early planning helps clarify who we’re trying to reach, what they care about, and how best to get messages across.
Communication isn’t just about products it’s also about process. When stakeholders are involved throughout the evaluation not just consulted at the end, they’re more likely to take the findings seriously. The richest learning moments arise not in final presentations, but in the interactions between evaluators and stakeholders, the spontaneous conversations and joint reflections that deepen understanding and build ownership. "People who can truly drive change are usually not the ones reading reports. They are the ones living the realities we’re trying to understand".
Keep it Simple, Keep it Human!
We’ve all read reports that are 100+ pages long, dense with text and jargon, and difficult to get through. And while formal reports still have their place especially for accountability many of you pointed out the importance of creating complementary products that are short, visual, and engaging.
Suggestions included: short videos and animations, infographics or dashboard, blog posts and human stories, podcasts or short social media pieces.
These aren’t just “add-ons” they’re "gateways" to open the door for wider use and engagement. In today’s context, there are no excuses: new technologies allow evaluators to produce interactive content that makes results memorable and actionable with minimal cost.
A shared conclusion
As evaluators experiment with new tools and participatory approaches, one message stands out across this discussion: "Communication is not the end of evaluation, it is the bridge between evidence and action."