The Arete Evaluation Collaborative is a partnership of different independent evaluation and research consultants who join together to provide excellent service to clients seeking evaluation and research assistance and partnerships. Each member of the collaborative brings their own unique skills, knowledge, experience, and passions to our work as evaluators:

Afia Achiaa Adaboh, MDP – Evaluation and Research Consultant; Founding Member

Afia Achiaa Adaboh is a graduate from the Humphrey School of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota where she received a degree in International Development Practice with concentrations in evaluation studies and sociocultural studies in education. Before this, she completed her undergraduate studies in Political Science and Sociology at the University of Ghana. Afia has a strong interest in the evaluation of projects aimed at improving the quality of life of vulnerable and marginalized communities.

Afia grew up in the Ashanti and Greater Accra regions of Ghana, and has been living in the USA in order to pursue her graduate studies. Her work experiences have involved working with diverse teams to build projects in Ghana, USA, Jamaica, and Somalia.  Some of Afia’s research and evaluation interests include: community development, maternal health, and educational policy especially pertaining to ethnic and racial minorities and children from low socio-economic backgrounds both in the US and abroad. Afia seeks opportunities to conduct more utilization focused evaluations to assist non-profits to effectively achieve program goals.

Randika Lawson De Mel, MDP & MS-Non-Profit Management – Evaluation and Research Consultant; Founding Member

Randika is an evaluator and researcher focused on international education, global public health, community development and rural livelihoods. His main focus is on nonprofit work and researching and evaluating issues that are important for the betterment of the human condition.  Randika obtained a Master of Development Practice (MDP) in International Development from the Hubert H. Humphrey School of Public Affairs, University of Minnesota. Further, he has a Master of Science in Public and Nonprofit Institutions from the School of Public Affairs, St. Cloud State University. For his undergraduate studies, he obtained a dual degree in Finance and Supply Chain Management and a certificate in International Business from the W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University.

Randika grew up in Colombo, Sri Lanka, and he went to the USA in order to pursue his undergraduate and graduate studies. His background is in humanitarian work, rural livelihoods, early childhood education, higher education, youth entrepreneurship education, and public health. He has worked on monitoring and evaluation projects and research projects in a wide range of countries for nonprofits, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and universities. As an evaluator and researcher, he is interested in quantitative and qualitative methods, project management, survey development and administration, customer oriented evaluation, intercultural evaluation, and capacity building. Using evaluation and research, he wants to help nonprofit organizations to manage their programs effectively and efficiently in a way that benefits their targeted communities. Randika lives in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

T. Jordan McGurran, MA – Principal Evaluator, President, and Founder 

TJ considers himself to be an evaluation anthropologist who does evaluation and research to develop programs and organizations, with a focus on programs engaging in intercultural/international education, agriculture, rural livelihoods, global public health, community development, and public policy. He is a graduate of the MA program in Organizational Leadership, Policy, and Development – Evaluation Studies at the University of Minnesota with concentrations in international/intercultural education and global public health. Before this, he completed his undergraduate studies in Bible and Theology and Philosophy/Anthropology with a certificate in Human Needs and Global Resources from Wheaton College in Illinois.

TJ’s background is in intercultural/international education, international community development, teaching, administration, and organizational development.  As an evaluation anthropologist, he  is particularly interested in qualitative methods and instrument development, research design, survey design and administration, project management, intercultural evaluation, evaluation theory, capacity building, and understanding the role of values in evaluation. Through evaluation, he has found a discipline that allows him to use social scientific methods and theory to help people form organizations and policies in order to better promote personal and structural flourishing and to be able to develop practical wisdom oriented towards the common good.

Angelica Getahun, MDP – Evaluation and Research Consultant

With ten years of experience in international development, Angelica Getahun has focused her work on small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and more recently program evaluation.  Angelica worked with the Regional Sustainable Development Partnerships (RSDP) as the Evaluation Researcher and implemented and led the Most Significant Change Project, a story-based approach to evaluation. Designed for the Aeon Resident Connections program and Ateneo de Manila University, she and her colleagues developed evaluation plans and tools to better analyze projects and programs. Prior to her evaluation work, Angelica served as the Events and Outreach Coordinator at Peace Coffee, a Minneapolis-based fair trade and organic coffee company. She also served as a Peace Corps volunteer in rural Costa Rica and worked with small-scale coffee growers on a marketing project, selling organic fair trade coffee along the Pacific coast. In the community of San Martin de Rivas, she partnered with a variety of community members on projects ranging from peace and conflict resolution to Junior Achievement. More recently, she and her colleagues developed a value chain analysis of a product called copal in the Amazon Rainforest of Ecuador. She also worked as a market researcher on a value chain analysis of Maya nut, wicker, and palm leaf in Central America. She has a strong interest in SMEs, value chain analysis, and program evaluation.

Angelica grew up in the border community of Douglas, Arizona in the United States and has a Master Degree in International Development Practice from the Humphrey School of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota. She also holds a B.A. in Spanish and Business Administration from the University of Redlands in California.

Elly Arganbright, MA – Evaluation and Research Consultant

Elly is a recent graduate from the University of Minnesota, where she earned her MA in Organizational Leadership,  Policy, and Development with a focus on comparative andinternational development education. Prior to this, she completed her undergraduate studies at Iowa State University, where she earned a BA in English and a BS in Global Resource Systems. Her interest is in rural education, educational policy, intercultural/international education, and youth skills development.

Elly grew up in southwest Iowa in the US. She has experience living and working in East Africa. She has supported evaluation projects in Kenya and Tanzania, and worked with skills development and entrepreneurship programs for youth in Uganda. As an evaluator, Elly is interested in participatory evaluation, qualitative and quantitative methods, program impact evaluation, and documentation of program processes and impacts.

Iloila Tan, MPP – Evaluation and Research Consultant; Founding Member

As an economic analyst by experience and training in the Philippines, Iloila has been monitoring the macroeconomic performance of her country, the Asian region, Euro area, and the US for several years before beginning her graduate studies at the Humphrey School of Public Affairs of the University of Minnesota. It was while taking coursework for her public policy degree with a concentration in advanced policy analysis that Iloila decided to refocus her interest and training in economics to analyze social policy issues in areas such as health and education.  She also developed a keen interest in learning more about program impact evaluation and handling demographic survey data as she hopes to get more involved in development work. Iloila also wishes to gain exposure to or be able to work on other development concerns related to the environment, climate change and agriculture.

Photos

Arete would also like to thank Rachel Robinson for contributing photos to our website.