Evaluation Use

The Whale Initiative is a small part of a parger project, being the Oceans Protection Plan. The Ocean Protection Plan is a part of the budget for the current Oceans and Fisheries Deperatment, part of the Transports Canada department of this itineration of the Canadian governmet. The Whale Initiative covers whales and large marine mammal life across the largest coast in the world, being Canada. It is then obviously difficult to properly oversee and amass the information about this Initiative given the austere context. It does ineed prove difficult. It then would also be difficult to hold each piece of the Whale Initiative accountable and difficult to follow up on each pieve of funding. Therefore, the purpose for the use of this evaluation is to educate Canadians on the Whale Initiative as well as explore its research and knowledge translation models and how it operates in order to provide services to those people whose mission it is to protect whales. It is a collaborative evaluation, which must operate with information gleaned from each aspect of the program- practitioners being policy makers, fisheries and coast guards as well as stakeholders like the government and whale watching tours. The evaluation contains information chiefly on the three spotlight whales, which were outlines in the OPP and follows up on the work that has been done, how the work is being done, how the action so far has lived up or surpassed the goals at hand as well as how it is projected to move. It will contain data from ocean observatories in a quantitative way as well as qualitative data about the staff of the Initiative, its affilicated stakeholders and the non-governmental peers.

The information will be gathered and presented on social media, websites like this and offered to other national ocean enviornmental websites to be displayed and used. Spreading awareness in such a way would help the Whales Initiative to be held accountable for their work. Since it is such a small part of such a large Plan, it is important that program evaluations such as this one are carried out in order to ensure the initiative is proceeding according to the goals it had in mind. Undoubtedly, many people will share the evaluation questions I laid out on the home page and they would be able to find not only the answers to those questions here but links to further reading and research in order to better understand the whales and systems the Initiative seeks to assist but also the Initiative itself and its place in the Canadian government and communities where the funding is allocated.

Since the program is almost midway through, after an analysis of the work so far weighed against the percieved goals and projections for the feasibility of the outcome aligning with goals a conference could be held concerning improvement and successes. The results of the conference could be distributed to all stakeholder and major players in the Initiative. Through a website such as this the findings, methodology and recommendations for improvement could be displayed for all parties to review. It should be a place for open discussion and dialogue with the end in mind of supporting the Whale Initiative and laying the ground work for enough policy to be put in place that another Initiative is not necessary in the future.

Commitment to Evaluation Standards

Being an area of great passion for a great deal of people, it is important that any evaluation of this program adhere to strict professional and ethical guidelines. I have used the OECD's Program Evaluation Standards as a guideline, here is the most pertinent information about the standards of this evaluation:

• Utility Standards: Evaluation will be for the service of the intended users.
• Feasibility Standards: The evaluation will be within a logical framework, it will be efficient and effective as possible while using the most utilitarian strategies at hand.
• Propriety Standards: The evaluation will take place ethically and legally and will be transparent and forthright with all of its operational actions. It will have regard for all of those affected by the results.
• Accuracy Standards: The evaluation will be as accurate as possible with all of the necessary information to review the merit of the program being evaluated.