Dr Jan Tobias Polak
Dr. Jan Tobias Polak is a Team Leader and Senior Evaluator at DEval. At DEval, he has led evaluations of the Human Rights Policy as well as the action area "Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights", among others. Prior to joining DEval, he served as Head of the Evaluation & Statistics Unit at the Austrian Development Agency (ADA). In this role, he was responsible for planning and managing strategic evaluations of Austrian development cooperation and for reporting Austrian development finance statistics to the OECD DAC within the framework of the Creditor Reporting System (CRS). Since 2023, he has been a member of the Board of DeGEval – Gesellschaft für Evaluation, where he oversees the organization's finances. Dr. Polak holds a PhD in social and economic sciences and received his doctoral degree from the University of Vienna in 2012.
Key qualifications
- Thematic focus
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Governance,
Civil Society,
Human Rights,
Development Statistics,
Development Cooperation Instruments,
Evaluation Systems
- Methodological focus
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Foresight and Futures-Informed Evaluation,
Rigorous Evaluation Designs,
Theory-Based Evaluations,
Mixed-Methods Approaches.
Evaluations and Projects
- Civil society development cooperation
- Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights
- Human Rights in German Development Policy
- Human Rights in German Development Policy. Part 1: The Human Rights Strategy and its Implementation
- Human Rights in German Development Policy. Part 2: Implementation and Effectiveness of the Human Rights-Based Approach in the Area of Action "Private Sector and Financial System Development"
- The Volunteer Service “weltwärts"
- Structural Reform of Technical Cooperation
- Secondment of Development Workers
Publications
- Policy Brief: Strengthening Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights: Evaluation Findings Against the Backdrop of a Changed International Context
- Policy Brief: Sexuelle und reproduktive Gesundheit und Rechte: Evaluierungsbefunde im Kontext veränderter Rahmenbedingungen
- Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights. Evaluation of the Development-Policy Area of Intervention
- Sexuelle und reproduktive Gesundheit und Rechte. Evaluierung des entwicklungspolitischen Aktionsfeldes
- Perceptions of human rights complaint mechanisms: The case of German international development cooperation
- Equality of opportunity and non-discrimination as an evaluand
- Do aid agencies comply with human rights requirements in Practice? Systematic evidence on the integration of human rights in German development cooperation
- Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: An Evidence Gap Map
- Policy Brief: Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: An Evidence Gap Map
- Policy Brief: Human Rights in German Development Cooperation: Mainstreaming and Effectiveness in Private Sector and Financial System Development
- Policy Brief: Menschenrechte in der deutschen Entwicklungszusammenarbeit: Verankerung und Wirksamkeit in der Privatsektor- und Finanzsystementwicklung
- Human Rights in German Development Policy. Part 2: Implementation and Effectiveness of the Human Rights-Based Approach in the Area of Action "Private Sector and Financial System Development"
- Policy Brief: Human Rights in German Development Cooperation. Aspirations and Implementation
- Menschenrechte in der deutschen Entwicklungspolitik. Teil 2: Umsetzung und Wirksamkeit des Menschenrechtsansatzes im Aktionsfeld „Privatsektor- und Finanzsystementwicklung“
- Human Rights in German Development Policy. Part 1: The Human Rights Strategy and Its Implementation
- Policy Brief: Menschenrechte in der deutschen Entwicklungszusammenarbeit
- Menschenrechte in der deutschen Entwicklungspolitik. Teil 1: Das Menschenrechtskonzept und seine Umsetzung
- Menschenrechte in der Praxis der deutschen Entwicklungspolitik: Empirische Befunde und theoretische Einordnung
- Kann Entwicklungszusammenarbeit Menschenrechte stärken? Ergebnisse der Evaluierung des Menschenrechtsansatzes in der Privatsektor- und Finanzsystemevaluierung
- Using Mediation Analysis to Uncover Psychological Mechanisms of Attitude Change in a Development Volunteer Program
- International development volunteering: An instrument for promoting education in line with the Sustainable Development Goals?
- Policy Brief: Does weltwärts Work? How Volunteers Change, and how they Contribute to Global Learning in Germany
- Wirkt weltwärts? Wie Freiwillige sich verändern und zum entwicklungspolitischen Lernen in Deutschland beitragen
- Policy Brief: Wirkt weltwärts? Wie Freiwillige sich verändern und zum entwicklungspolitischen Lernen in Deutschland beitragen
- weltwärts-Freiwillige und ihr Engagement in Deutschland
- Integration der Instrumente der Technischen Zusammenarbeit
- Policy Brief: Development Workers - an Outdated Instrument for Development Cooperation?
- Policy Brief: Der Entwicklungsdienst - ein überholtes Instrument der personellen Entwicklungszusammenarbeit?
- Entwicklungshelferinnen und Entwicklungshelfer
Selected Publications
Kleinsorg, L., Polak, J.T., Grünwald, C. (2027, forthcoming): Futures-informed evaluation. Concepts, Methods, Cases, Springer Nature: Heidelberg.
Polak, J.T., Kleinsorg, L., Grünwald, C. (2027, forthcoming): Anticipating Tomorrow: A Structured Approach to Futures-informed Evaluation, in: Kleinsorg, L., Polak, J.T., Grünwald, C. (eds.): Futures-informed evaluation. Concepts, Methods, Cases, Springer Nature: Heidelberg.
Grünwald, C., Kleinsorg, L., Polak, J.T. (2027, forthcoming): Closing the Loop and Opening the Horizon for Futures-informed Evaluation, in: Kleinsorg, L., Polak, J.T., Grünwald, C. (eds.): Futures-informed evaluation. Concepts, Methods, Cases, Springer Nature: Heidelberg.
Polak, J.T., Bruder, M. (2027, forthcoming): Enhancing the Use of Evaluations: Four Ideal Types of Futures-informed Recommendations, in: Kleinsorg, L., Polak, J.T., Grünwald, C. (eds.): Futures-informed evaluation. Concepts, Methods, Cases, Springer Nature: Heidelberg.
Steinert, C., Heucher, A., Polak, T., Smidt, L., Taube, L., Bruder, M. (2025): Perceptions of human rights complaint mechanisms. The case of German international development cooperation, in: Journal of Human Rights, vol. 24, No. 2, pp. 217–235. Available at: doi.org/10.1080/14754835.2025.2477495.
Morkel, C., Polak, J., Heucher, A., Taube, L., Smidt, L. (2024): Equality of opportunity and non-discrimination as an evaluand: The case of private sector and financial system development in German development cooperation, in: Masvaure, S., Chirau, T., Fish, T., Mkhize, S., Morkel, C. (eds.): Evaluation as a mechanism to foster an equitable society in the Global South, Evaluation: African Perspectives, vol. 2, AOSIS Books, Cape Town, pp. 67–94. Available at: doi.org/10.4102/aosis.2024.BK465.05.
Smidt, L., Taube, L., Polak, T. (2024): Do aid agencies comply with human rights requirements in practice? Systematic evidence on the integration of human rights in German development cooperation, in: World Development, vol. 181. Available at: doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2024.106676.
Bruder, M., Polak, J.T., Guffler, K., & Scheinert, L (2020). Using mediation analysis to uncover psychological mechanisms of attitude change in a development volunteer program. InJ.Schmitt (Ed.), Causal Mechanisms in Program Evaluation. New Directions for Evaluation, 167, 131–143.
Scheinert, L., Guffler, K., Polak, J.T., & Bruder, M. (2019). International development volunteering: An instrument for promoting education in line with the Sustainable Development Goals? International Journal of Development Education & Global Learning, 11(1), 4-28.
Laura Scheinert, Kerstin Guffler, Jan Tobias Polak, Martin Bruder (2019): „International Development Volunteering – An Instrument for Promoting Education in Line with the SDGs?” International Journal of Development Education and Global Learning (i.E.)
Alexandra Caspari, Jan Tobias Polak, Udo Kelle, Christian Erzberger (2019): „Die ‚Standards für Evaluation‘ aus methodischer Perspektive“ in Wolfgang Böttcher et al. (Hrsg.): „Standards der Evaluation in unterschiedlichen Handlungsfeldern“, Waxmann Verlag (i.E.).
Alexandra Caspari, Jan Tobias Polak (2017): „Der Arbeitskreis „Methoden in der Evaluation““, Zeitschrift für Evaluation, 2/2017.
Jan Tobias Polak (2013): "Netzwerkanalyse“, in P. Dannecker und B. Englert (Hrsg.), Qualitative Methoden im Kontext der Entwicklungsforschung, Mandelbaum, Wien.
Jan Tobias Polak (2012): "Jugendbewegungen in Westafrika – Ambivalenzen politischer Aktivitäten", Sozialwissenschaftliche-Rundschau, Nr. 3, Wien.
Jan Tobias Polak (2012): Lokale Governance-Netzwerke in Westafrika: Politisches Handeln in der urbanen Umweltpolitik Malis, Dissertation, Universität Wien.
Contact
Dr Jan Tobias Polak
Phone: +49 (0)228 336907-967
E-mail: tobias.polak@DEval.org