From Economics to Evaluation
Nick’s career began in economics with roles at the Bank of England and the UK Department of Health, where he advised on NHS resource allocation, health spending and reforms, including changes in how doctors and nurses were rewarded. As a government economist, part of this was assessing private finance deals on new hospitals, so he was familiar with appraising projects before they got started but had less awareness of evaluation once they got going or finished.
Drawn by a chance to combine his background in economics with international development, he took on a role with the then Department for International Development (DFID, now part of the FCDO) in East Kilbride, Scotland – not quite the country relocation he and his family had anticipated, but the first step of a new adventure nonetheless!
Nick transitioned from the economics of the NHS to the using his analytical skills for evaluation of international development programmes in countries like Mozambique, Vietnam, Ethiopia, and Pakistan. Reflecting on his early years, he admits:
“I sort of cringe at my own naivety and lack of experience of evaluation and also international development in the early days. But, I managed to transfer my economic skills into evaluation reasonably successfully because many of the concepts are very closely related. For example, how do you measure outcomes in a setting where the public sector has to intervene due to market failures? How do you look at things over time? How do you measure things that are not easy to measure?”
While at DFID, Nick led evaluation teams and partnered with colleagues around the world to conduct joint evaluations. This experience led him to get involved in the process of setting up the International Initiative for Impact Evaluation (3ie), where he worked closely with its first CEO, Howard White, and the Hewlett and Gates foundations that – together with the UK – provided most of the funding. This new organisation aimed to close gaps in high-quality impact evaluations for international development. Nick recalls:
“…that was one of the most satisfying things I did in my career when I was at DFID, to help to create a new institution to close what was then a big gap in the provision of high quality, rigorous impact evaluations applied to international development.”
Another of Nick’s areas of interest at this time was joint evaluations conducted in collaboration with other countries such as the USA, Canada, and Ireland and with Scandinavian institutions. Working on big evaluations at the time of General Budget Support, the Paris Declaration and anti-corruption) was an important opportunity for Nick to learn about the importance of collaboration and partnerships in evaluation – something he still believes is relevant today even as international frameworks and political contexts have changed.
Nick’s career progressed when he joined the World Bank’s Independent Evaluation Group as Director of Country, Corporate, and Global Evaluations. Here, he worked with a large team on evaluations that assessed the World Bank’s yearly performance and achievements. Reflecting on this role, he notes:
“One of the things we were doing was the flagship report on the World Bank’s results – what they achieved every year. It was one of the main mechanisms that the board [uses to hold] the Bank to account. So that was really interesting. We looked at the achievements on gender, for example, and we also looked at the achievements on the MDGs and on fragile and conflict states.”
Once he returned to the UK, Nick joined IOD PARC, where he has taken on a variety of projects that have also brought him back to his roots in health and also served on the company’s trading board as a director.
What Makes Evaluation Unique
For Nick, evaluation is a field where psychological insight meets analytical rigour. A skilled evaluator must navigate both data and human responses, especially as people can react emotionally to being evaluated:
“You know, to be a decent evaluator, you have to understand how people will react to being evaluated, and they can react very defensively and very emotionally to the whole experience. And I understand that better because eventually both of the functions which I helped to lead at DFID and the World Bank were evaluated.”
Evaluation also offers a broad perspective, allowing evaluators to engage with a range of issues and sectors. This diversity is something Nick has valued throughout his career:
“…you cover such a wide range of issues and a wide range of countries, and you need to be able to turn your hand to new issues. I’ve worked on health, obviously; I’ve covered issues ranging from health systems to health financing to HIV and AIDS to the health of young children and routine immunisation and…particularly the impact of COVID-19. So that’s quite a wide range of issues!”
The field also brings together people dedicated to social change, creating a collaborative environment that Nick appreciates:
“…the people who work in evaluation are very collaborative, generally, and very interesting people who come from backgrounds ranging from anthropology to statistics to policy, health, education, many different fields, social development advisors, and so when you when you discuss things with them, it sort of broadens your own way of thinking about things.”
Nick believes that evaluation is most impactful when it presents evidence in ways that policy makers can relate to, since change tends to happen when different factors align – including the the motivations of leaders to drive reform and windows of opportunity around resourcing and partnerships. While independence is crucial, it must not become a barrier:
“…you have to retain your behavioural independence, but I think that now the structural independence shouldn’t be used as a shield or a barrier. It should be there for situations where you need to exercise some degree of leverage. What’s really important is that evaluation has clout. You know that there’s a certain element of people realising that it’s in their interests.”
Evaluators must present findings accessibly and relevantly, fostering conditions for and removing the obstacles to evidence uptake.
Final Reflections
Today, Nick observes that multilateral collaboration in evaluation faces challenges as national interests grow stronger. Yet, he sees resilience in areas like climate change and the Sustainable Development Goals, where cooperation endures. He believes private-sector organisations like IOD PARC play a crucial role by providing flexibility and efficiency to evidence-based decision-making:
“We have the same commitments to quality and usefulness of evaluation (the DAC and UN quality standards for evaluation) that are built into the policies of the organisations that we work for, and we have to work similar standards. We can draw on a range of associates with very specific backgrounds quite flexibly.”
Reflecting on his career, Nick feels fortunate to have worked in evaluation, grateful for the opportunity to witness its positive impact:
“I feel very lucky to have worked in evaluation. It’s been a privilege. There aren’t many jobs where you get to work in such a range of countries and on such a range of issues, where you know it’s going to make a difference – and with professional people who are very highly motivated from a wide range of backgrounds and nationalities.”
