Dr Jan Tobias Polak
Dr Jan Tobias Polak is Senior Evaluator at DEval and currently leads the evaluation “Human rights in German development cooperation“. Until Mai 2019 he was head of the executive unit Evaluation & Statistics in the Austrian Development Agency. In this function, he was responsible for strategic evaluations of the Austrian Development Cooperation and Austria’s development finance statistics. From 2012 to 2017 he worked for DEval as Evaluator and inter alia lead the evaluation of the development volunteer service weltwärts.
Key qualifications
- Thematic focus
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Governance,
Civil Society,
Democracy,
Decentralisation
- Methodological focus
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Rigorous Impact Evaluation Designs,
Theory-Based Evaluations,
Mixed-Methods
Instruments, Approaches and Structures od Development Cooperation,
Evaluation Systems
- Regional focus
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Africa South of Sahara
Evaluations and Projects
- 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
- 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
- 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"
- Wirkt weltwärts? Wie Freiwillige sich verändern und zum entwicklungspolitischen Lernen in Deutschland beitragen
- 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
- Menschenrechte in der deutschen Entwicklungspolitik. Teil 2: Umsetzung und Wirksamkeit des Menschenrechtsansatzes im Aktionsfeld „Privatsektor- und Finanzsystementwicklung“
- Policy Brief: Human Rights in German Development Cooperation. Aspirations and Implementation
- 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
- 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
- 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
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