The Max Bell School of Public Policy hosted the fourth edition of the Evaluation Capacity Case Challenge (EC3) May 1 and 2, 2026. Spearheaded by Leslie Fierro, this competition brings together four teams of evaluation capacity building (ECB) experts, who work collaboratively in developing a strategic solution to a complex ECB case question in under 24 hours.
This year, the EC3 Case Site selected was , represented by Genevi猫ve Delisle. After a thorough overview of the organization鈥檚 dynamics and existing frameworks, they tasked our four competing teams with the following question:
What鈥痵teps can M茅decins du Monde take to ensure its National Operations Directorate leverages its current strengths (e.g., evaluative thinking and inclusive organizational practices) to further build its capacity to evaluate initiatives and use evaluation findings to learn and improve its activities, amid a resource constrained environment?
Congratulations to the Alpine Insights team on winning the 2026 case challenge!
From left to right: 脡lyse McCall-Thomas, Nyal Mirza, Piper Oren, Genevi猫ve Delisle, Melissa Tremblay, Alondra Felix Silvestre, Aimee Yurris.
Meet the teams:
Team 1: Alpine Insights
- 脡lyse McCall-Thomas is a Ph.D. candidate in the Faculty of Education at the University of Ottawa. Her doctoral research examines the relationship between evaluation theory, policy, and practice.
- Nyal Mirza is an MSc Health Policy Research student at the University of Alberta and is completing an embedded Graduate Certificate in Community-Based Research and Evaluation.鈥�
- Piper Oren is a Behavioural Research Coordinator at Harvard Business School, and is interested in strengthening local and state evaluation capacity, as well as generating implementation-aligned evidence to shape policymaking.
- Alondra Felix Silvestre is a Research Analyst at CG Charitable, supporting grassroots education organizations across Latin America and Africa. She is passionate about expanding educational opportunities for vulnerable communities.
- Aimee Yurris is the Senior Evaluation and Performance Analyst at the Government of the Northwest Territories Department of Education, Culture and Employment.
- Team coach: Melissa Tremblay
- Team mentor: Allison Prieur
Team 2: First Wave
- Chelsea Gordon is an Interdisciplinary Studies doctoral student at the University of Saskatchewan where she is exploring methods for determining social and economic of value of allied health services within public systems.
- Alizea Alvarez-Sookram is a social worker turned evaluator, whose work focuses on connecting equity, systems thinking, and data-driven learning.
- Sujin Chang is an Evaluation Associate at Three Hive Consulting, specializing in qualitative research and knowledge translation. Her work focuses on centering user needs.
- Kunga Denzongpa is a Himalayan-tribal minority from Sikkim, North-east India, whose work centers on community engaged research (CEnR) and culturally responsive equitable evaluation (CREE) approaches.
- Bernice Yamoah is a Doctoral Student in Rehabilitation and Health Leadership at Queen's University. She employs community-based participatory evaluation to examine culturally safe mental health and addictions services for Black immigrants.鈥�
- Team coach: Isabelle Bourgeois
- Team mentor: Lauren Jowell
Team 3: The Clear Minds Collective
- Dana Smiles is a multidisciplinary social scientist with a background in sociology, public health, and international development, with expertise in qualitative methods.
- Jeydelyn Martinez is a young and emerging evaluator whose work is grounded in culturally responsive and equitable evaluation frameworks with deep interest in systems transformation.鈥�
- Sarah铆 Nava Marquina is a Policy Researcher at the Provincial Employment Roundtable and is passionate about program evaluation and the use of evidence to improve policies and programs with meaningful impact.
- Ojo Adefisayo is a doctoral student in Research and Evaluation at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell, with interests in Data Science and Analytics, Educational Data Mining, the integration of artificial intelligence, and STEM Education.
- Ayan Barre is a public health practitioner with experience across humanitarian, development, and community-based settings, including work with refugee communities through United Nations agencies.鈥�
- Team coach: Michelle Searle
- Team mentor: Meg Johnson
Team 4: Grounded Innovation
- Reilly Baldwin is an evaluation consultant with Qatalyst Research Group, where her work focuses on implementation and impact evaluation of provincial health and social programs.
- Katherine Centeno is an economist and experienced in designing and managing the full cycle of socio-economic research, monitoring and evaluation (M&E) frameworks, and development programs across Latin America.
- Sabrina Ouellet is interested in culturally sensitive and transformative evaluation and recently completed a Diploma in Public Policy and Evaluation from Carleton University.
- Rebecca Polivy is completing her PhD student in the Evaluation and Applied Research Methods program at the Claremont Graduate University, with a focus on Evaluative Thinking.
- Kritika Gupta is a research and evaluation expert specializing in complex program management, data-informed strategic planning, and institutional impact assessment across public health, education, and social policy.
- Team coach: Rebecca Gokiert
- Team mentor: Doreen Otieno
2026 Judges:
- David Buetti, Assistant Professor, Department of Health Management, Evaluation, and Policy l'Universit茅 de Montr茅al.
- Genevi猫ve Delisle, Strategy and Social Impact Advisor, M茅decins du Monde
- Fran莽ois-Daniel Portelance, PhD candidate, Faculty of Education, Queen鈥檚 University
- Jane Whynot, Partner at GCI and Adjunct Professor, School of Public Policy & Administration, Carleton University
Judging criteria:
- Feasibility 鈥撀�Feasibility of implementing the ECB activities as proposed.
- Strength of proposed causal pathway -聽The plan for strengthening evaluation capacity within the case site organization should clearly connect to the change the case site wants to see in their evaluation practice/activities. Furthermore, this theory of change should view the organization as a system (e.g., how people influence each other; how workstreams may intersect; natural leverage points).
- Innovation 鈥撀�The extent to which the team鈥檚 proposal goes beyond the 鈥渟tandard鈥� approaches to building evaluation capacity (i.e., training about evaluation and developing written materials to help individuals learn about evaluation) and/or incorporates innovation within or alongside standard approaches (e.g., innovation in the training or materials themselves, additional ECB interventions accompanying the training/materials that are innovative).
- Alignment with Organizational Context -聽The extent to which the team鈥檚 proposal leverages existing organizational strengths; matches with the natural rhythms, processes, and culture of the organization; and aligns with the organization鈥檚 values.
- Equity & Inclusion:聽The extent to which the proposal (i.e., presentation, ancillary documents) and group processes demonstrate and promote equity and social justice through (a) a strategy that includes elements likely to advance equity (through ECB activities or resulting evaluation practice) and (b) team processes that demonstrates inclusion.
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Quality of presentation and associated Q&A聽- The presentation is delivered in a professional, clear manner and within the 25 minutes allotted. The question-and-answer session is professional and clear and provides answers to the questions posed while demonstrating thoughtful integration of ECB concepts, theories, and practices. The presentation and any ancillary materials developed are free of typographical and grammatical errors and use professional formatting and graphics.
