SHIFTwork is grounded in a simple idea:

Change happens through small and incremental shifts—
in thinking,
in relationships,
and in practice.

SHIFTwork helps organizations pay attention to what’s happening, ask better questions, and build learning into how they work.

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Julie Witmer

Evaluation and Learning Partner

I work alongside organizations navigating change—supporting them to think, learn, and act in real time.

For more than two decades, I’ve partnered with federal departments, national nonprofits, and First Nations, Inuit, and Métis organizations across Canada. My work focuses on strengthening how organizations learn from practice, notice patterns, and respond to what’s emerging—especially in complex, evolving contexts.

My approach is grounded in systems thinking and developmental evaluation and shaped by an anthropological lens: systems are not just technical—they are lived, relational, and cultural.

The focus of my work is simple: to strengthen how organizations think, learn, and adapt in order to expand capacity for desired change.

The right learning, in the right place, at the right time.

Over time, my evaluation practice has shifted.

Not away from evaluation—
but toward a clearer understanding of where it fits.

Evaluation has an important role.
It supports accountability—helping us understand value through what has happened, what was achieved, and how resources were used.

But it is only one part of the picture.

What I have learned in practice

When the conditions for learning are in place, learning becomes practice.

In organizations, this means intentionally embedding reflection, inquiry, and adaptation into how work gets done—through team routines, conversations, and decision-making processes—not treating them as separate or occasional activities.

It involves making space to pause, question assumptions, surface different perspectives, and respond to what is emerging while work is still underway.

When these conditions are in place, learning becomes continuous rather than episodic, and teams are better able to navigate complexity, adjust course, and contribute to meaningful change.

Intentional evaluative thinking and real-time reflective learning are critical capacities for navigating and contributing to systems change.

These capacities focus on whether current approaches are addressing the conditions that hold a problem in place—asking not only what is changing, but whether those changes matter within the broader system.

In more stable contexts, monitoring and traditional evaluation work well—tracking progress and identifying what works.

But when we are trying to understand systems change—how programs, policies, and small interventions ripple out over time—we need different approaches.

What I Bring to Clients

I bring a combination of deep listening, practical experience, and a steady presence in complex spaces. My role is not to arrive with answers, but to support teams notice what they already know implicitly, to make knowledge visible to create a space for learning.

My role is to help create the conditions for clarity without oversimplifying the work. That means designing processes that slow things down just enough for people to see patterns, surface assumptions, and make sense of what they are learning—together. I bring structure when it’s needed and flexibility when it isn’t, always paying attention to power, participation, and whose knowledge is shaping decisions.

I also bring a strong grounding in evaluation and learning practice. I help teams use evidence as a tool for reflection and adaptation rather than compliance, translating complex information into insights that can actually inform action.

Most of all, I bring a relational and respectful way of working. I work alongside people rather than positioning myself as the expert with answers. My role is to help groups notice what they already know, make learning visible, and move forward with greater confidence, clarity, and shared purpose.

Select Clients

  • Government of Canada

    • Health Canada (including First Nations and Inuit Health Branch)

    • Indigenous Services Canada

    • Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada

    • Public Health Agency of Canada

    • Infrastructure Canada

    • Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat

    • Department of National Defence

    • Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Canada

    • Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada

    • Employment and Social Development Canada

    • Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada

    • Environment and Climate Change Canada

    • Fisheries and Oceans Canada

    • Canadian Food Inspection Agency

    • Status of Women Canada

    Government of Ontario

    • Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care

    • Ministry of Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation

    • Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities

    • Ontario Public Service

    Municipal / International Government

    • City of Cape Town and Cape Metropolitan Council (South Africa)

    • National Treasury (South Africa)

  • Non-Government / Non-Profit / Academic

    • Canadian Partnership Against Cancer

    • Canada Health Infoway

    • Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health (CADTH)

    • Community Foundations Canada

    • Tamarack Institute

    • Information and Communications Technology Council (ICTC)

    • Federation of Canadian Municipalities

    • McConnell Foundation

    • Pewaseskwan (Indigenous Wellness Research Group)

    • Waniska Centre

    • University of Saskatchewan

    • Simon Fraser University

    • Carleton University

    • University of Cape Town

    • Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami

    • Assembly of First Nations

    • Métis National Council

    • Métis Nation of Ontario

    • Congress of Aboriginal Peoples

    • Tungasuvvingat Inuit

    • National Aboriginal Economic Development Board

    • First Nation communities (e.g., Nishnabe Aski Nations, Khanawake First Nation)