Donna Podems is a researcher and evaluator who lives in South Africa. She holds a doctorate in interdisciplinary studies focused on Program Evaluation and Organizational Development, and a Masters degree in Public Administration. She has 23 years of experience in research and evaluation for a broad range of themes, including agriculture, education, environment, gender, human rights, health systems, innovation projects, and nutrition, working primarily in
Africa, as well as parts of Eastern Europe, Latin America and Asia. Donna is a current Board Member for the Global International Evaluation Academy (IEC). She is a former Board Member for the International Organization for the Cooperation of Evaluation (IOCE), the American Evaluation Association (AEA), and the South African Monitoring and Evaluation Association (SAMEA).

She is a current Senior Research Associate at University of Johannesburg, and a Senior Fellow at Stellenbosch University. She is on the editorial board of the American Journal of Evaluation. She is the author of Democratic Evaluation: Exploring the Reality and Being An Evaluator, Your Guide to Evaluation and several book chapters, articles and blogs.