February 2026
by Sandra Silva, ETB Data Governance Program Director

A Moment of Return

I’m Sandra Silva, an Evaluator and Project Director at Change Matrix. I recently rejoined the Expanding the Bench (ETB) team to support our Data Governance efforts, and I’m excited to bring my evaluation background to help advance ETB’s learning and evaluation strategy.

As we step into 2026, ETB remains grounded in priorities that have long guided our work — building relationships, supporting pathways into evaluation, and contributing to the advancement of the field. At the same time, we are entering a period of greater intentionality. We are thinking more deeply about our role within the evaluation ecosystem and becoming more deliberate about the impact we hope to have. After several years of growth, we recognize this is an important moment to strengthen how we capture and learn from our work. Developing a more structured approach to data collection and outcome tracking will allow us to better understand how communities engage with and benefit from ETB efforts. Just as importantly, it will help us communicate our impact with greater clarity and purpose.

We are also investing in our ability to learn from and share ETB’s collective story. This work goes beyond dissemination and reflects our commitment to emerging practices within the evaluation ecosystem and contributing meaningful insights to the field. By strengthening our data infrastructure, we are making a strategic investment in sustainability and scale, particularly as our regional work continues to expand. In the coming year, we look forward to sharing more as we further clarify ETB’s theory of change and deepen our understanding of the difference we are working to make. Stay tuned for updates as this work continues to evolve.