64. Women in Evaluation | Feminist Evaluation, Caregiving, and Identity with Claudia Olavarría

This episode is the first one of a series celebrating International Women's Month. Maria sits with Claudia Olavarría, an evaluator from Chile with 15 years of experience in international development. Claudia shares her journey navigating a career as a mother of four, building a consultancy while balancing caregiving responsibilities, and the support networks that made it possible. Together they explore feminist evaluation — what it means, why it matters, and how Claudia defines it as simply good evaluation — covering key competencies like cultural responsiveness, participatory methods, and transformative practice. The conversation also touches on the emotional realities of fieldwork, protecting communities and evaluators from vicarious trauma, and Claudia's call to action for a more inclusive, gender-responsive field.

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