Ian is President of the International Evaluation Academy, a M&E Specialist Advisor with the South African Presidency and an International Advisor on Evaluation/MEL and Evidence Systems. He was Deputy Director General in the South African Department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation to 2018, where he established and ran the National Evaluation System and was a founder of the Twende Mbele African Government M&E Partnership. Since 2018 Ian has been researching, training and consulting internationally in evidence use, monitoring and evaluation systems, working particularly in Africa and Asia. The International Evaluation Academy focuses on the contribution evaluation can play in addressing the polycrisis, and Ian has been very closely involved in driving a 3 Horizons initiative to explore how the evaluation field can play this transformational role. In the South African Presidency Ian has developed the MEL system for the just energy transition. He has worked in 21 countries in Africa, Latin America, Europe and Asia, with government, civil society and the private sector. He is associated with the universities of Cape Town and Witwatersrand, and an editor and author of the book Evidence Use in Policy and Practice: lessons from Africa.
South Africa
Ian Goldman
President
International Evaluation Academy
Posted on 14/10/2026
I would like to draw colleagues’ attention to a recent article, “Rewiring the Evaluation Marketplace for a Changing World,” by Nancy MacPherson, Thomas Kelly and A.K. Shiva Kumar, published in the Journal of MultiDisciplinary Evaluation, Volume 22, Issue 53 (2026).
The article examines the changing global evaluation landscape, including funding pressures, shifting institutional priorities and the need to rethink traditional evaluation models. It calls for a more innovative, inclusive and responsive evaluation ecosystem, with stronger collaboration and greater engagement of local and regional actors.
These reflections are particularly relevant to our ongoing discussion on how evaluation can remain credible, independent and useful amid growing resource constraints.
I encourage colleagues to read the article and share their perspectives.
Read the article: https://jmde.com/index.php/jmde_1/article/view/1382