Promoting Environmental Communication and Policy Formation: A Utilization-Focused Evaluation Approach

ABSTRACT

Environmental communication and policy formation must address complex challenges as society faces unprecedented environmental issues. Program evaluation is one method for mobilizing support for new policies; however, evaluation often does not focus on the intended users thereby decreasing the value of evaluation findings. A utilization-focused approach increases evaluation effectiveness for intended users by highlighting the cultural contexts where findings will be implemented. Utilization-focused evaluation prioritizes the use of findings by working with intended users of the evaluation through all stages of the evaluation to promote the use of evaluation findings that are often overlooked when implementing environmental policy. From a utilization-focused approach, communication is the vital connection between evaluation and evidence-based environmental policy-making. This review article offers practice-based recommendations for the intersection of utilization-focused evaluation, environmental policy, and environmental communication to promote increased use of evidence-based findings to inform policy within a highly politicized environment.

KEYWORDS:

• Environmental communication
• environmental policy
• sustainability
• utilization-focused evaluation
• evaluation use

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).