Evaluations you will use! YEARS started from a place of deep commitment to the products of an evaluation. Why bother doing an evaluation only for the results to rust on a shelf? Why teach carefully on a subject only to observe no meaningful change from your effort? Watching work done, I wondered about “the letter of the work” and the “spirit of the work.” As a person, I am a stickler for the letter of things and the spirit of things, borrowing from the “letter of the law” and the “spirit of the law.”

I started YEARS to pay homage to the “letter of the work” and “the spirit of the work,” because at the end of any assignment are real people, real families, and real communities. It does not matter if YEARS is conducting a policy evaluation, an organizational audit, a program evaluation, or supporting capacity development. There are people at the end of the line of each assignment.

During my doctoral studies, I often was an odd voice, not satisfied with the orthodoxy of what we were learning. Why is losing a thatch roof for a zinc roof a sign of development in? Why do we complain about colonialism but do not seem to do anything meaningful to upend the status quo? Why does it feel like all we are doing professionally is jumping as high as we are told?” As I delved into consulting, I often wondered, why we are keen to tell only the positive story and minimally tell negative story?

I started YEARS to grow spaces of comfortability for telling the “negative story."  The “negative stories” provide the most potential for growth, for future benefit. Building on this thinking, work at YEARS is infused with decolonial ways of thinking, strategizing, designing and working to produce deliverables you will use!

In 2015, Dr. Hippolyt Pul opened a door and I stepped in. Inspired by this, YEARS operates on a model of mentoring young minds to discover the cool arts of evaluation, strategy and practitioner-focused capacity development. Explore our team to see the creative minds who support the diverse work YEARS gets to do.

Welcome to YEARS. Feel free to connect with us to discuss how we might help you.

YEARS-Evaluations you will use!