Learning & impact· Medium risk

Brief for an external evaluator

Commission an external evaluation well.

When to use this prompt

Reach for this prompt when you need to commission an external evaluation well. It's designed for CEO, M&E lead. Typically used within Evaluation work.

Draft with AI, then have a colleague verify facts and tone before use.

How to use it

1
Gather your inputs
You'll need: Programme, Budget, Timeline.
Nice to have: Funder requirements.
2
Fill in the template
Copy the template below and replace every bracketed placeholder with real, local context. Keep names and safeguarding details out.
3
Run it in your AI tool
Paste into your preferred AI assistant. Ask a follow-up if the output misses your association's tone or context.
4
Review with the checklist
Work through the human-review checklist below before you send, publish or act on the output.

Prefer a guided flow? Adapt with the guided builder — it fills placeholders from your association profile.

Prompt template

Draft an external evaluation brief for {{programme}} at {{association_name}}. Budget: {{budget}}. Include questions, method preferences, ethics, outputs.

Replace bracketed placeholders with real context. Never paste identifying details about children, health or safeguarding cases.

What good output looks like

A commissioning brief.

Human review checklist

Tick each before you send or publish the output.

Questions specific
Ethics clear
Participants access findings
Budget honest

Why this prompt works

The best briefs invite evaluators to challenge your questions, not just answer them.

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Adapt with the guided builder