Arispe - McGuire - Dr. Phillips and Dr Peersman

Itziar Arispe is Evaluation Learning Specialist at the Evaluation Learning Programme at the UNSSC, which focuses on the application of technology and innovation in the area of measurement, applied analytics and evaluation, fosters peer learning and offers UN personnel a portfolio of courses and on-demand services on core skills and management competencies in measurement and evaluation.

Itziar has substantive professional experience in monitoring and evaluation at international development organizations, NGOs and academia. Her fields of expertise include evaluation capacity building, trends and approaches on evaluation, measurement, and qualitative comparative analysis.

Before her current position at the UNSSC, Itziar has served in different monitoring and evaluation positions at the UN, at the United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute (UNICRI) from 2012-2019, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) from 2005-2012, and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Nicaragua (2001-2003). She served as Associate Professor at the Central American University (UCA) in Nicaragua on topics related to projects formulation and evaluation.

Itziar holds a PhD in Applied Economics and a Master of Science in Peace and Development from the University of Basque Country, and is author of a number of publications on evaluation capacity building, evaluation of interventions for countering and preventing violent extremism, and applied qualitative comparative analysis.

Martha McGuire is a Credentialed Evaluator and Fellow of the Canadian Evaluation Society (CES). She has been conducting evaluation for over thirty years and has been recognized for her contribution to evaluation by the CES. For the past 10 years she has been conducting evaluations for UN agencies and other international organizations. She has worked with a variety of populations including the homeless, First Nations in Canada and other indigenous communities, children, older adults and people with disabilities across a number of sectors including health, employment, economic development, education and urban planning. She assisted UNEG in developing its Evaluation Competency Framework and developing a paper on the professionalization of evaluation in the UN system.

Martha has a keen interest in the development of the field of evaluation. Through her work on the Canadian Evaluation Society (CES) Core Body of Knowledge project with Rochelle Zorzi and Burt Perrin, she has contributed to a better understanding of the value of evaluation and what is needed to conduct credible and useful evaluations. She has also been involved with the development of the CES Professional Designation Program. She is a past board member and past-chair of the Ontario Chapter of the Canadian Evaluation Society and is also a past-president of the CES National Council. She represented CES on the board of the International Organization for Cooperation in Evaluation and was on the Management Group Executive for EvalPartners. She received the CES 2009 Award for Contribution to Theory and Practice of Evaluation in Canada. Martha teaches Effectiveness and Accountability through Evaluation at Ryerson University.

Dr. Patti P. Phillips is President and CEO of the ROI Institute, Inc., the leading source of ROI competency building, implementation support, networking, and research. She is also chair and CEO of The Chelsea Group, Inc., an international consulting organization supporting organizations and their efforts to build accountability into their training, human resources, and performance improvement programs with a primary focus on building accountability in public sector organizations. She helps organizations implement the ROI methodology in countries around the world--including South Africa, Singapore, Japan, New Zealand, Australia, Italy, Turkey, France, Germany, Canada, and the United States.

After a thirteen-year career in the electrical utility industry, Dr. Phillips took advantage of the opportunity to pursue a career in a growing consulting business where she was introduced to training, human resources, and performance improvement from a new perspective--a perspective that directly reflected her values of accountability, ROI evaluation. Since 1997, she has embraced the ROI methodology by committing herself to ongoing research and practice. To this end Dr. Phillips has implemented ROI in private sector and public sector organizations. She has conducted ROI impact studies on programs such as leadership development, sales, new-hire orientation, human performance improvement, K-12 educator development, educators' National Board Certification mentoring, and faculty fellowship. Dr. Phillips is currently expanding her interest in public sector accountability through application of the ROI methodology in community- and faith-based initiatives, including Citizen Corps, AmeriCorps, and the Compassion Capital Fund.

Dr. Phillips' academic accomplishments include a Ph.D. in International Development and a master's degree in Public and Private Management. She is certified in ROI evaluation and has earned the designation of Certified Performance Technologist.

Dr Greet Peersman has 30 years’ experience in monitoring, evaluation (M&E) and research in public health and international development (focus areas include: child protection, civil society, governance, health promotion, health services, HIV/AIDS, human rights, malaria, social change, tuberculosis). Greet has a PhD in Biology and a MSc in Health Promotion Sciences.

Greet is the Director for M&E capacity-strengthening at BetterEvaluation Ltd. Her previous positions include: Senior Evaluation Advisor to the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), Geneva; Deputy Director for M&E of the Global AIDS Program at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Atlanta; Program Director of the Centre for the Evaluation of Health Promotion and Social Interventions (EPPI-Centre) at the University of London, London.

Greet has provided M&E support to a range of international and donor agencies (including DFAT, DFID, EU, Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Malaria and Tuberculosis, UNAIDS, UNICEF, UNOPS, USAID, WHO, World Bank). She has worked with governments as well as with NGOs and civil society partners in more than 20 countries in Africa, Asia and Latin & South America.

Greet has published widely, including global standards and normative guidance for M&E, M&E tools, evaluation reports, systematic reviews, book chapters and peer-reviewed papers.