Each week, leading up to the Blue Marble Evaluation book and website launch, we will be introducing a new principle of Blue Marble Evaluation. We will start with the four overarching principles. This week, Principle 1: Global Thinking.

Principle: Apply whole Earth, big picture thinking to all aspects of systems change.

Basic premise: Global problems like climate change, worldwide pollution, and global disparities require global interventions and, correspondingly, globally-oriented and world savvy evaluators.

Implications:

Whatever is done, or evaluated, at all levels and for all types of interventions and initiatives, consider its global context and implications both within and beyond nation-state boundaries.
Think systemically. Conceptualize systems and evaluate systems changes, not just focus on projects and programs. Connect the local to the global, and the global to the local.
Think across silos by examining how issues, problems, and specific interventions may be interconnected. Unpack and bring fidelity to initiatives, organizations, and projects calling themselves “global”. Working on one issue in three countries is not global. What are the various ways in which the designation “global” has meaning?
Select appropriate methods for the situation and nature of the targeted systems changes.
Time being of the essence, be attentive to varying time horizons by integrating short-term, medium-term, and long-term sustainability considerations while acting with a sense of urgency given climate change and related global trends.