Written by founding members of the Equitable Evaluation Collective– the Charity Evaluation Working Group and The Social Investment Consultancy.

As the Equitable Evaluation Collective (EEC) enters a new chapter, we’ve taken the opportunity to reflect on the last 4 years and what we’ve learnt about collaborating in an equitable way. Can you believe that we officially launched 4 years ago?! We can’t!

Right from the beginning our ambition was to work in an equitable way and to ‘walk the walk, as well as talk the talk’. For us this meant working without hierarchy, sharing power and collectively making decisions. Given that the work is about equity, these felt like important principles to adopt and guide our ways of working.

We were conscious that if we want to really challenge power dynamics, knowledge systems and centre equity, then we needed to work in a different way. Despite the enthusiasm and shared ambition for this, multiple organisations (and individuals) working in this way is much easier said than done. We’ve learnt a lot along the way!

5 things we’ve learned in the last four years

1. The slow wisdom of working in an equitable way

This might seem like it’s stating the obvious, but we have learned that working in a truly equitable way is a long, deliberate walk that requires significant time, headspace and mental energy.

Early on, we perhaps underestimated the amount of energy required for individuals across four different organisations to align on their values and habits. To reach a place of equitable partnership, we’ve had to give immense amounts of voluntary personal time, make compromises and lean into uncomfortable conversations.

While we’ve learned that delivering outputs is rarely straightforward when you prioritise equity, we’ve also seen the quality of our work and the strength of our relationships deepen. Taking a collaborative and equitable approach has also proved to be a useful way to triangulate findings and challenge our own biases and assumptions. We learnt to honour the rhythm of the work, factoring the intentional time into our gantt chart not as a delay, but as an investment in sustaining working relationships.

2. Getting to know the being alongside the doing

In the social sector, we are often driven by a sense of urgency. When you are trying to drive systemic change, there is always a mountain of “doing” to be finished. However, we have learned that the humans behind the work are the ones who ultimately shape how we deal with discomfort and how we deliver impact.

Our collective was born during COVID-19, which meant the majority of our interactions were forged through screens. Though we once shared a dinner together in London, we were so consumed by the weight of our mission that we rushed into working together before we had truly learned who we were as individuals. Early on, we focused heavily on the mechanics of our mission. But along the way, we realised that if we don’t understand the being – the foundational principles and assumptions each partner brings – the work remains fragile. We experienced moments where it became clear that not everyone shared the same goals, reminding us that shared objectives are not the same as shared values.

It was only until the third year that we began to intentionally weave check-ins and icebreakers into our regular catch-ups – they were essential moments to see each other as people first. Learning to build trust at a human level is what allows us to define priorities when time is precious. At the end of the day, we know it’s people and relationships that move the work forward.

3. Collective care must be at the heart of any collective

In our deep desire to be equitable to others, we sometimes practice a form of “unconscious extraction” – pushing our own limits and neglecting our own needs in order to make others feel valued. We have had to learn that collective care is a practice of navigating conflicting needs.

Because we represent different organisations, each with its own motivations and priorities, we had to create a safe space where individuals felt comfortable flagging when something wasn’t working. Often, our needs conflicted. For example, some of us found WhatsApp helpful for coordination, while others felt it crossed personal boundaries and interrupted work-life balance. Another example is where we gave ourselves a tight timeline for governance circle members’ recruitment, while holding ourselves accountable to give thoughtful feedback to everyone who came to our door.

These might seem like small details, but they represent the heart of our work. We cannot build an equitable system if we are burning out the people building it. Collective care is essential to allow a movement to continue; it is the act of honouring the human over urgency and deadline.

4. A movement is not a “commission”

For several years, EEC’s lifeblood was the in-kind labour of passionate individuals at the founding organisations. While we are grateful that recent funding has made our work more sustainable, it is vital to remember that this work is not a time-bound grant agreement.

Social movement organisers throughout history haven’t waited for a budget to fight for what is right. We are not just project managers delivering a service; we are community organisers bringing together a group of like-minded individuals to push for equity in the UK evaluation sector. While funding is a necessary tool for sustainability, our primary driver is the belief in the agenda itself. The value of this organising is measured in the systemic shifts we catalyse, which far outweighs any quantifiable measures of success. We do this work because it is necessary, not just because it is funded.

5. The wisdom of stepping back to let the collective lead

We feel immense gratitude to have stewarded this initiative as part of our roles at ChEW and TSIC. However, we have always seen our role as seeding the change, not owning it. Lasting impact doesn’t require us to take up the space all the time; it requires us to open up the ecosystem for wider participation.

About two years ago, we began to see the EEC appeal to more and more pioneers. It felt like the right time to decentralise, opening up the future for the community to drive collectively. With the support of the Paul Hamlyn Foundation, we have intentionally designed a governance model based on sociocracy, shaped by the voices of our own supporters.

As we look to the future, we aren’t just looking to maintain what we’ve built; we want to evolve it. As we welcome the nine governance circle members, it marks the “sunsetting” of ChEW and TSIC’s formal roles. This is a moment of celebration. We are moving from a founder-led model to a community-led movement.

Our hope is that this next phase of movement building establishes a solid collective governance model, ways of working, and shared decision-making processes that involve even more people and voices. Our ambition is that formalising our governance will ensure that equity remains at the heart of the EEC as we grow. We are deeply excited to see the EEC flourish in its next chapter. Interested in learning more or becoming part of the movement? The new EEC governance circle is thinking about the next steps, so watch this space.  And if you’re interested in learning more then join the Linkedin Group (https://www.linkedin.com/groups/10012780/) and/or email [email protected]