Malka Elkin (she/her), a student in the Graduate Diploma in Public Policy and Program Evaluation (DPPE) is one of the two recipients of the 2021-2022 Canadian Evaluation Society Educational Fund (CESEF) scholarship for evaluation education.
“I’m motivated by a desire to use data to improve the impact of social services on vulnerable populations,” Elkin says. She holds masters’ degrees in both social work and crisis and trauma studies and a BA in world religions and history. She has worked in the fields of youth mental health and immigrant settlement, first in the capacity of frontline worker and now in data, research and evaluation.
Elkin currently works as a data and evaluations analyst at JIAS Toronto, where she brings an evaluative focus and a theory-based evaluation approach to the organization, which supports newcomers to Canada. “I am passionate about supporting small to medium-sized non-profit organizations to adopt a data-driven, evidence-informed approach to program design and implementation,” she says.
As part of her graduate diploma program, Malka is working on an evaluation project for a South Africa-based client, evaluating the relevance, effectiveness and implementation of a university’s programs aimed at advancing the research careers of their women faculty members. Malka and her fellow team member will utilize a realist and mixed methods approach to collect data from women academics, department heads and other significant partners at the university to understand strategies that have been employed to reach and engage the target population. They will also explore the extent to which the university is an enabling environment for women academics to advance in research. Additionally, the project will incorporate elements of GBA+ in its consideration of systemic barriers for academics of intersecting identities.
The Graduate Scholarship Program seeks to support the development of theory and practice of program evaluation by facilitating access to education and training to those working in or wishing to work in the field of program evaluation. To this end, the CESEF is offering the Universalia Charles Lusthaus Scholarship valued at $5,000. This is a one-time, non-renewable, 12-month award.