It Is About The People: Some Reflections and Musings on a People‐Centered Evaluation Approach in a Milieu of Wicked Problems

ABSTRACT As the final conversation in the issue, this article reflects on the preceding articles by drawing on commonalities and distinctions regarding the broader concept of people‐centered evaluation (PCE) in theory and practice. Much like the other issue contributors, we, too, take an inter‐, cross‐, and transdisciplinary perspective, relying on the core tenets of other evaluation frameworks that both center people and offer suggestions for the fields and sectors in which we evaluators find ourselves. Therefore, our aims are to: (1) draw upon the lessons learned in preceding articles, (2) offer new directions for the field by connecting people‐centered approaches with broader evaluative traditions and theories that also sought to center people and communities, and (3) reflect on our own research and evaluation experiences to contextualize and imagine future possibilities. These reflections provide a space for the three authors to engage bidirectionally: on one side, to review and respond to the learning that emerged across the articles in this special issue, and on the other, to situate these insights within a broader conversation in the field of evaluation. Finally, we briefly connect (PCE) with other theoretical lineages, as well as decolonial and Indigenous frameworks that invite us to imagine evaluation as a moral, relational, and human practice grounded in justice and collective flourishing.