Each week, leading up to the Blue Marble Evaluation book and website launch, we will be introducing a new principle of Blue Marble Evaluation. The first four weeks introduced the four overarching principles. This week we turn to the second of twelve operating principles. Click here to learn about the difference.

Principle: Integrate complex interconnections across levels.

Basic Premise: Global systems change must be contextually sensitive and grounded in the interactions between local and global processes and scales of change. The term that has emerged to capture this way of thinking is GLOCAL, or glocalization.

Implications: When designing an intervention or initiative, look at the interactions, interdependencies, and interconnections across levels (micro, meso, macro). Take into account how people, information, and resources flow from local to global, and global to local.

Evaluation Questions:

In what ways is an initiative or intervention truly GLOCAL? In both processes and results?
What are the interactions, interdependencies, and interconnections across levels? How do they intersect for mutually reinforcing systems change? Look for both anticipated and unanticipated interactions, both positive (mutually reinforcing) and negative (disjointed and nonaligned).

Photo Credit: Ellen Harasimowicz