Theory of Resilient Transformation to Overcome Failures and Political Opposition

Transformation is a descriptive term for major systems change. That change can be toward greater equity, authentic democratic engagement, shared power, and sustainability, or it can be toward greater concentrations of power and wealth, and autocratic/oligarchic rule. Initiatives and evaluations aimed at creating a more just, sustainable, and democratic world have generated a political and cultural backlash among those who perceive their world being transformed in ways they oppose. Oppositional policies threaten the funding, effectiveness, and even survival of DEI and climate mitigation initiatives. In the current turbulent, chaotic, polarized, and uncertain political and economic environment, community engagement and sharing leadership must include building evaluation capacity to deal with organized opposition and potential, or actual, failure. One approach is to conceptualize the evaluation as a test of resilience. This session will offer a theory of resilient transformation to guide evaluation of initiatives facing concerted political opposition as barriers to change.
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