Although some argue that distinctions between "evaluation" and "development evaluation" are increasingly superfluous, it is important to recognize that some distinctions still matter. The severe vulnerabilities and power asymmetries inherent in most developing country systems and societies make the task of evaluation specialists in these contexts both highly challenging and highly responsible. It calls for specialists from diverse fields, in particular those in developing countries, to be equipped and active, and visible where evaluation is done and shaped. These specialists need to work in a concerted fashion on evaluation priorities that enable a critical scrutiny of current and emerging development frameworks and models (from global to local level), and their implications for evaluation–and vice versa. The agenda would include studying the paradigms and values underlying development interventions; working with complex adaptive systems; interrogating new private sector linked development financing modalities; and opening up to other scientific disciplines' notions of what constitutes "rigor" and "credible evidence." It would also promote a shift focus from a feverish enthrallment with "measuring impact" to how to better manage for sustained impact. The explosion in the development profession over the last decade also opens up the potential for non-Western wisdom and traditions, including indigenous knowledge systems, to help shape novel development as well as evaluation frameworks in support of local contexts. For all these efforts, intellectual and financial resources have to be mobilized across disciplinary, paradigm, sector and geographic boundaries. This demands powerful thought leadership in evaluation–a challenge in particular for the global South and East.