Abstract

Evaluation is often relegated to the last step in the process of program development. Frequent questions asked by stakeholders include, how exactly can evaluation capacity be developed to address health disparities and how can evaluation be an agent to social change? This paper describes the application of the Model for Collaborative Evaluations (MCE) in building evaluation capacity to address health disparities. This model is a comprehensive framework for guiding collaborative evaluations in a precise, realistic, and useful manner (Rodriguez-Campos, 2005). The MCE includes a set of six interactive components that helps stakeholders establish priorities in order to achieve a supportive evaluation environment, with a special emphasis on those factors that facilitate collaboration. Consequently, this model has a systematic structure that provides a basis for decisionmaking. This paper offers insight on strategies to build evaluation capacity in health settings using the MCE.