Alex Gruenewald

Alex has over a decade of experience in participatory design, monitoring, evaluation and learning processes in complex programming environments. His work and approach focuses on developing monitoring, evaluation and learning processes and systems that are tailored to organisational needs and capacities. Alex has extensive experience in cross-cultural environments, including in-country experience in Pakistan, Mongolia and Bangladesh, where he worked with local staff and community members. A sophisticated understanding of cultural dynamics, power relations and communication styles is a hallmark of all Alex’s work.

Alex has expertise across the full monitoring, evaluation and learning lifecycle, including developing program logics and theories of change, designing and conducting data collection and analysis, making sense of complex findings and developing fit-for-purpose reports. Alex has led evaluation projects in diverse sectors. Highlights include:

• The Learning Enquiry into HealthWest Partnership’s Evaluation Capacity Building project, which used a systems approach to identify actionable ways to strengthen evaluation capacity in the primary prevention sector.
• The evaluation of Victorian Aboriginal Child Care Agency’s Return to Country Program for Aboriginal children and young people in Out of Home Care.
• Collaborative impact measurement design with children’s educational charity Ardoch, developing of a whole-of-organisation Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Framework and associated data collection tools for Ardoch’s work with primary and secondary students.
• Evaluation design for the Asylum Seeker Centre’s Employment Services program, in partnership with the Paul Ramsay Foundation.
• Evaluation capacity building with City of Greater Geelong, including training, mentoring, and work with the Health Equity and Planning unit to develop Theories of Change for Council’s strategic health and wellbeing priorities.

Alex has also contributed to Lirata’s evaluation of Victoria’s Refugee Education Support Initiatives, our evaluation of the First Response Youth Service, and to consultancy projects with Barwon Community Legal Service, Berry Street Victoria and others. Alex has outstanding skills in stakeholder engagement and workshop design and facilitation. He provides training and mentoring as part of Lirata’s Capacity Building stream.

Prior to joining Lirata, Alex held project management and evaluation-related roles in the international development sector, including with Australian Red Cross International Programs, Transparency International Australia, and several other NGOs. Alex led the design of monitoring and evaluation processes in development and emergency contexts, including multi-country impact evaluations focused on thematic areas such as disaster management and gender inclusion.

Alex has undertaken extensive training in impact evaluation, outcomes measurement and cross cultural partnerships.