The International Research Group of Policy and Program Evaluation (INTEVAL): A Celebration of Meetings, Publications, and Leadership

Background: A limited initiative by the International Institute of Administrative Studies in 1986 established a small Working Group on Policy Evaluation that has today became a self supporting 50-member international community of professional practice (INTEVAL) that has endured for almost four decades and published over 40 books. Purpose: To chronicle the development of the Group and identify supportive factors. Setting: n/a. Intervention: n/a. Research design: a history of the development of the Group and an organisational analysis of its leadership. Data collection: historical records of the Group. Analysis: Draws on psychological safety theory of organisational leadership. Findings: The development of INTEVAL has been supported by a distinctive culture of psychological safety developed by the Group’s convenor Ray Rist, and enthusiastically adopted by members, in which Rist has set out the shared expectations and meanings of the Group’s work, and encouraged participation by demonstrating humility, practising inquiry, establishing collective ways of working, and expressing appreciation of successes and destigmatizing well intentioned misfires. Members have responded to this leadership with dedication to their contributions and to their colleagues.