Amira Tharani

We are living in what Joanna Macy calls The Great Turning – a systemic shift away from the Industrial Growth society to a more connected, holistic, nature-aligned and relationship-centred way of living. Research, learning and evaluation, if aligned to this way of thinking, can create the right conditions for the Great Turning within organisations – in both mindsets and practice. It can be a life-affirming, deeply joyful pursuit. This is how I seek to work. Increasingly, I see my facilitation and learning work as the heart of my practice, backed up by qualitative research and evaluation. Research is effective in so far as it is explored, thought about, assimilated, and used to guide approaches and decisions. The core of my work is facilitating learning conversations with individuals and groups so that the decisions that they make are in service of greater justice, equity, and inclusion for all. I’ve carried out several learning partnerships, developed Theories of Change for large funding portfolios and small-but-vital community organisations, and conducted a wide range of external evaluation. Alongside this, I have supported funders, charities, and social enterprises to improve their research, evaluation and learning practice. With NCVO, I delivered training on evaluation to hundreds of small charities and social enterprises. More recently, at TSIP, I supported organisations with systems mapping and led participatory research projects. I work across a broad range of thematic areas, which means that I see clearly the interconnections between different sectors including health, education, environmental and social justice. I prefer to work collaboratively with other researchers, evaluators, and facilitators, as we bring different approaches and skill sets which improve the quality of the work. Prior to joining NCVO in 2016 and developing my practice in evaluation, I worked as a teacher, education consultant and curriculum developer. I am a qualified teacher of Religious Education.