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ABSTRACT EVALUATION CAPACITY BUILDINGECBVIRTUALLY Lawmakers and the public have pushed for increased accountability in health and social programsAs a resultevaluators and evaluation skills have become very important to both large and small organizations providing health and social service programsHowevermuch of the public health workforce is not well equipped to handle these increased demands for outcomes data and researchMany federal agenciese gHealth and Human ServicesDepartment LaborDepartment of Justiceand private foundations are beginning to fund only organizations that deploy evidence based interventions demonstrating impact on behaviorse gindividualorganizationalcommunityOur firmthrough its national evaluation work has witnessedfirst handthe challenges faced by the staff and leadership of many organizations engaged in planning and responding to health issuesincludinglack of expertise in evaluation and the ability to capture data related to program outcomesadverse experiences with external evaluators and researcherslack of resourceslimited time and inadequate funds for independent evaluationsandfear of negative evaluation resultsThese inhibitors are also cited in literature and reports on evaluation capacity buildingEvaluation can require considerable time and resources and many organizations cannot afford to create separate evaluation departments or hire external evaluatorsEVALUATION CAPACITY BUILDINGVIRTUALLYECB Vis a product concept that has emerged from our firm syears of work in program planning and evaluation with government and nongovernment organizationsWe envision ECB V as customizedmultimedia Elearning courseECoursewith a supplemental EAssistant to transfer learning from the individual to the program and organizational levelsThe goal of this multi level Elearning and engagement tool is to improve the capacity of the program staff of community based organizations and state and local health departments to planimplement and evaluate programs that advance population health in the U SThe REESSI staff will focus on two key aims in carrying out this projectOur team will develop the ECB V prototype through iterative activities with experts and end users andevaluate the ECB V prototype using quantitative and qualitative methodsThe transdisciplinary team of population and public health expertsevaluators and software developers will engage in this proposed project to develop the prototype and conduct a feasibility study to determine the degree to which program staff and independent evaluators find the ECourse and EAssistant appealingusable and valuablefeasibilityand how the ECourse and EAssistant affect program staff knowledge of program planning and evaluationmeritThe development of the user process for the product will be guided by the Evaluation Capacity Building Theory of Change Model to design and deliver stimulating and interactive content with electronic surveys in a digital environmentECB V will consist of a comprehensive ECourse with eight learning modules and an EAssistant for on the job tasksThe proposed topicscontentfor the ECourse are based onthe Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Evaluation Guide andthe Office of Minority Health Evaluation ProtocolThe Phase I activities will provide the foundation for the construction of the full and final components of the ECourse and EAssistantThe Phase II activities will consist of a multi site randomized controlled evaluation that focuses on both individual and organization outcomese gattitudesevaluation knowledgepublic health core competency skillsreported changes in organizational systems and decision makingMedical advances and new technologies have provided people in America with the potential for longerhealthier lives more than ever beforeHoweverpersistent and well documented health disparities exist between different racial and ethnic populations and health equity remains elusiveAddressing disparities at the population level must involve both new and well established effortsA major goal of the U SDepartment of Health and Human ServicesHHSHealth Disparities Action Plan is to increase the efficiencytransparencyand accountability of HHS programsThis includes internal strategies and externally funded activitiesA primary strategy proposed in Healthy Peopleand the action plan is to reduce disparities in population health by increasing the availability and effectiveness of community based programs and policiesThis involves developing the capacity of frontline program staff to planimplement and evaluate interventions and programsThe Centers for Disease Control and PreventionCDCwhich funds a significant portion of the projects that focus on health equity health disparities views evaluation as a major tool for program improvement and accountability