Rapid advances in technologies resulting from the fourth industrial revolution (4IR) and related digitization are changing the way information and knowledge are created, used and shared. How have these shifts affected evaluation? How should evaluators adapt to the proliferation of big data or blockchain encryption to avoid becoming obsolete? What do we need to harness and how?
Simultaneously, there have been shifts in global development priorities, such as the move from the MDGs to the SDGs. Are the new tools and technologies available to us conducive to responding to these changing demands? How can they help evaluators to address new challenges?
The ongoing COVID‑19 pandemic has brought to the fore many of the above‑mentioned issues flagged earlier by proponents of the 4IR, who noted that the 4IR, digitization and disruptive technologies would transform how work and development were approached.