Programs

Educational Assistance Awards

Award Description

Managed through the Canadian Evaluation Society Educational Fund, the Educational Assistance Awards support individuals in gaining evaluation skills and knowledge. There are two awards available:

Malatest Indigenous Evaluation Scholarship (MIES): for emerging Indigenous evaluators.
Malatest Evaluation Leadership Award (MELA): for emerging evaluators working in the not-for-profit space

Objectives

The objective of the Educational Assistance Awards is to help develop evaluation skills in individuals and evaluation capacity at the organizational level. This is done by providing funding for evaluation-related courses or workshops to individuals who show interest in pursuing a career in evaluation and research or who are currently working in the field of evaluation.

Eligibility

To be eligible for an Educational Assistant Award, applicants must:

Be a Canadian citizen, a permanent resident of Canada or a Protected Person under subsection 95(2) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (Canada) as of the application deadline date;
Be enrolled, either full or part-time, in a program leading to an undergraduate or graduate degree in evaluation in Canada or currently working in a paid position that requires the applicant to complete program evaluation(s) as part of that role;
Intend to pursue a career in evaluation in Canada;
Be either a person of Indigenous descent (MIES) or currently work in a not-for-profit organization (MELA);
Be seeking funding for training other than to attend the National CES conference;
Be requesting support for an upcoming training event being held in Canada within the same calendar year (funding cannot be used retrospectively);
Have not received an Educational Assistance Award in the past five years; and
Be able to demonstrate how the acquired skills or knowledge will be applied to the applicant’s evaluation work.

Selection Process

A merit review of applications will be carried out by a selection panel appointed by the Board of the Canadian Evaluation Society Educational Fund and will be based on the following evaluation criteria:

Commitment to evaluation	As demonstrated by your education, work and volunteer history, your interest in evaluation, and contribution to the advancement of program delivery or evaluation application. Indicators of commitment to evaluation: quality and originality of contributions to evaluation. relevance of work experience, academic training, or volunteer activities to the field of evaluation. participation in the evaluation community in Canada. An expression of interest in evaluation.
Applicability to evaluation career	As demonstrated by your current, past, or proposed career your potential contribution to evaluation. Indicators of applicability to evaluation career: merit of proposed training. ability to apply evaluation skills and knowledge gained through the training to your career.
Ability to increase evaluation capacity of a not-for-profit organization (Malatest Evaluation Leadership Award (MELA) only)	As demonstrated by how you will use this knowledge to increase evaluation capacity within a not-for-profit organization. Indicators of increased organizational capacity: role within the organization. demonstration of leadership or coaching abilities. plans to disseminate and share learnings.
Connection to an Indigenous community (Malatest Indigenous Evaluation Scholarship (MIES) only)	A demonstration how your knowledge in evaluation will support evaluation practice and capacity in an Indigenous community or organization. Indicators of increased organizational or community capacity: role within the organization or community. demonstration of leadership or coaching abilities. plans to disseminate and share learnings.

All decisions by the selection panel are final.

Value and Duration of the Award

One Malatest Indigenous Evaluation Scholarship Award and one Malatest Evaluation Leadership Award will be provided annually. The award can be applied to cover the costs associated with one-time training or course work. The value of each award is:

Malatest Indigenous Evaluation Scholarship (MIES): $750.00
Malatest Evaluation Leadership Award (MELA): $500.00

Successful applicants will be required to sign a letter of acceptance.

Application Procedure and Deadline for Submission

To apply for either Educational Assistance Award, you must complete and submit an application to the Canadian Evaluation Society Educational Fund by September 1 stating which award you are applying for (only one award can be applied for by any applicant in a single year). Please send your application to admin@cesef.ca. Applications received by the deadline will be considered for that calendar year. The application can be downloaded. Receipt of applications will be acknowledged by email.

Official languages: You may submit your application in the official language of your choice. The review panel has mechanisms in place to review both English and French applications.

Administration of the Award

Notification of results: Offers of award will be made by October 1 of the application year. Alternate offers may be made by October 15 of the application year. Unsuccessful recipients will be notified by October 30.

Payment of award: The award amount will be paid directly to the recipient by the Canadian Evaluation Society Educational Fund when an invoice or receipt for the course is provided to admin@cesef.ca. Cheques will be mailed directly to the recipient using the address provided in the application.

Recipient Responsibilities

Recipients of the Awards must:

sign a letter of acceptance
provide an invoice or receipt for the training course to admin@cesef.ca
acknowledge receipt of the payment cheque by email to admin@cesef.ca
submit a report within three months of completion of the training course. This report will provide a summary of how the information you learned was shared or disseminated within the organization where you work or volunteer.

Use and Disclosure of Information

All personal information collected as part of this award will be used by the Canadian Evaluation Society Educational Fund to review applications and to administer and monitor awards. The Canadian Evaluation Society Educational Fund will publish the names of the Award recipients, along with limited information about them, at the annual CES conference. All information provided will be protected under the provisions of Part 1 of the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA). Information is held in accordance with the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act.

The CESEF is an independent organization created by the Canadian Evaluation Society in 1990 and reorganized in 2005 to increase national assessment capacity through educational activities. In 2006, CESEF was officially registered as a Canadian charity.

The Fund maintains partnerships with the Canadian Evaluation Society and the Consortium of Universities for Evaluation Education to promote the shared goal of developing the area of program evaluation by increasing access to education, training and professional development.

We invite interested people, potential partners, students and evaluation specialists to send us their comments and suggestions.

Mailing and Email Address

The Willow Group 401 - 1505 Laperriere Ave Ottawa, ON K1Z 7T1

admin@cesef.ca