ETB Blogs
ACE Evaluation Network Member Highlight: Elvis Fraser
With 95 Evaluators and growing in the Network, we are highlighting an ACE Evaluation Network Member each month to share their experiences and current projects with the ETB® community.
Advancing Culturally-responsive and Equitable (ACE) Evaluation Network Member Dr. Elvis Fraser is an African American of Caribbean origin. He is the Founder and Managing Director of Sankofa Consulting, LLC, a Seattle-based boutique consulting firm whose mission is to reduce inequalities and advance social justice for the poor and marginalized through the provision of high-quality technical assistance to mission-driven organizations. Dr. Fraser has designed, managed, and implemented research and evaluations of programs across different sectors including agriculture, health, education, financial services, community development, and the environment. He is skilled in the application of a wide range of quantitative and qualitative methods and has over 20 years of international experience as a social scientist and evaluator. Prior to founding Sankofa, Dr. Fraser spent 10 years in senior leadership roles at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, focusing on measurement, evaluation, and learning (MEL) in support of their global development programs. Dr. Fraser has a doctorate in socioeconomics, with a concentration on international development. He has extensive experience working in the U.S., Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean.
What first attracted you to the ACE Evaluation Network?
I was invited to join the Network by an existing Member to whom I was introduced. She thought, after meeting me, that I might be interested and could benefit from the Network. Once I learned more about ACE, I was excited by the opportunity to connect with other people of color who are practicing culturally responsive and equitable evaluation (CREE) and who are consultants or owners of small businesses. I was particularly excited about the access it could provide to Funders of the work.
What do you value most about the ACE Evaluation Network?
One of the most valuable things that I have found is the opportunity to hear about what others are doing in the CREE space. There is an instant bonding and comfort that comes from being among people who understand what it is to be a person of color as a practicing consultant or small business owner doing this work. I also highly value the ETB Coffee Breaks that sets up Network Members and Funders. I have participated in two rounds of Coffee Breaks and have reconnected with people I met long ago, as well as made some new connections. So far, I have received a number of Requests for Proposals (RFPs) and other leads on potential opportunities for work.
What’s a current project you are working on?
My company, Sankofa Consulting, is working on a number of projects focused on centering equity in strategies or conducting evaluations that require drawing the Equitable Evaluation principles. On the strategy and program planning end of things, we are working with the Central Valley Community Foundation (CVCF) in Fresno to develop a theory of change that centers equity in a multi-year, multi-sector inclusive economic development plan for Fresno (we have completed that work), and providing technical assistance to implementing partners (initiatives) to establish results, frameworks, and MEL plans that make explicit the equity-related results, their indicators, and associated methodologies. We are also working with two foundations to identify the best ways to integrate their commitment to equity into their MEL practices. We are doing this work in the U.S. and internationally. Finally, we are the evaluation technical partner for one of the Hilton Foundation’s programs to provide evaluation capacity-strengthening support to their grantees in the U.S., Mexico, and Haiti to better use MEL to advance their work.