The Rockefeller Foundation includes a portfolio of initiatives that promote innovation, systemic change, and the global well-being of vulnerable populations, as well as the use of evaluations as accountability tools. While evaluation looks backward, data science can identify patterns and hot spots for forward-looking, prescriptive action. While some evaluation tasks can be time consuming, data science can accelerate evaluation in a cost-effective way, leveraging data to find solutions more quickly.
Community Science operated in an advisory role on this project, working with the Foundation’s Director of Measurement, Evaluation, and Organizational Performance and other leaders to advance the use of big data and data science within the evaluation field. We developed and co-developed workshops, trainings, and other resources for evaluators nationwide and globally. Over 200 evaluators were trained on how to use the big data science tools, technologies, and methods to advance program evaluations.