SECPI’s Gathering Space for Strengthening Evaluation Partnerships: Highlights
December 4, 2025
What it took to launch the Ananse Team partnership
The Ananse Team is a loose collective of small evaluation firms that come together to undertake evaluation projects. Hippolyt and Carlisle highlighted five key actions that helped their team successfully launch their partnership. Together, they:
Built a team with the required experience and expertise to successfully meet a client’s needs (the team is reconfigured depending on client needs);
Gave themselves a collective identity (that wasn’t just the name of the lead member’s company);
Partnered as equals (with full transparency, shared responsibilities and opportunities);
Recognized everyone’s expertise or strengths (creating a “leader-full” team); and
Established trust-based relationships among team members to help them perform well together.
What it takes to foster strong partnerships among evaluators
According to Gathering Space participants, successful evaluation partnerships hinge on a blend of shared values, clear communication, intentional equity practices, and adequate resourcing. The main challenges often revolve around power dynamics, differing compensation structures, and time constraints imposed by funders.
Gathering Space participants shared the following practices that lead to strong partnerships in which funders are willing to invest:
We can explore each of these further during future Gathering Spaces.