© IDEAS

IDEAS-RELAC Joint ConferenceBogotá, Colombia May 2007

Development evaluation: meeting the challenges of learning, ownership,

accountability and impact

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IDEAS

• The International Development Evaluation Association: an independent global association of evaluators and those interested in evaluation, established in 2002, now with over 400 members from some 70 countries.

• IDEAS Mission is “to improve and extend the practice of development evaluation by refining knowledge, strengthening capacity, and expanding networks for development evaluation, particularly in developing and transition countries”.

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ReLAC

• The Network of Monitoring, Evaluation and Systematization in Latin America and the Caribbean: created in 2003 is made up of 14 networks of evaluators.

• ReLAC’s mission is to “strengthen the role of monitoring, evaluation and systematization as a fundamental social and political process aimed at improving policies, programs, and projects and at pursuing increased transparency and citizen participation”.

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Biennial Conferences

• IDEAS policy is to hold a conference every two years• First was in New Delhi (2004) and addressed

“Evaluation for Development – Beyond Aid”• ReLAC also held its first Conference in 2004 (Sao

Paulo) on the theme “Evaluation, Democracy and Governance: Challenges for Latin America and the Caribbean”

• Both were professionally and financially successful• Success came from sound preparation, substantial

participation and the generosity of several donors

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Conference Outcomes

• For IDEAS: a recognition that the environment for development evaluation is changing:– growing concern with the effectiveness of public

expenditure in the pursuit of development goals – new stakes – new stakeholders, affecting development evaluation

• For ReLAC: desire to stress the links between:– evaluation and public action– evaluation and good governance– and to promote citizen participation in evaluation of

public sector performance

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Changing Stakes

• Economic growth increasingly linked to:– Greater security – Greater equity– Greater empowerment

• Development increasingly linked to:– Greater focus on results– Greater accountability– Greater harmonisation and greater

cooperation

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Changing Stakeholders

• Greater role for ‘public action’ to advance human rights and human development.

• ‘Public’ is more than government action or actions by the public sector but includes action by people and communities.

• ‘Public action’ interpreted as a global partnership for development.

• New forms of partnerships and coalitions with different stakeholders.

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Implications: the field of Development Evaluation needs to…

• Broaden its scope to assess policy, policy coherence and development outcomes

• Move away from narrow donor-led evaluations and make evaluation central to the development process

• Use evaluation to make development actions more relevant to the people they are to help

• Strengthen evaluation as an instrument of public action

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Goals of the Joint Conference

• To foster a global dialogue among evaluators, policy and decision makers

• To expand ownership in evaluation by including representatives of civil society, the public sector and the international community

• To discuss innovative, more effective and more efficient ways of conducting and using evaluation to improve development processes and achieve development objectives

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Objectives of the Conference

• To provide an opportunity for evaluators and partners of each Association to present practical evidence, or research on ways of enhancing learning, ownership, accountability and impacts through evaluation

• As a joint activity, to promote awareness of the role of evaluation associations and networks in:– strengthening public action through evaluation

– strengthening evaluation capacities at the national and regional levels

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Association Objectives

• To build understanding and foster partnership between IDEAS and ReLAC and other national evaluation associations. And,

• For IDEAS: To continue the process initiated in Delhi, and followed in its two regional workshops on CLE (Prague and Niamey) of advancing thinking and practice on how to broaden the scope and deepen the quality of evaluation for accountability and impact at the country level.

• For RELAC: to build upon its 2004 Conference and further thinking on the links between evaluation, democracy and governance.

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Conference Streams

• Development Evaluation as an instrument of democracy, public action and citizen participation

• Country-Led Evaluation: experiences and perspectives

• Role of networks and associations in building national and regional evaluation capacities

• Professionalization of evaluation: approaches and experiences

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Conference Streams

• Use of evaluation for accountability, learning and measuring impact

• Role of the International Cooperation Agencies in development evaluation

• Development Evaluation and Evaluation Partnerships: traditional and new stakeholders

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Location & Schedule 2007

• BOGOTA, Columbia, May 2007• May 1: Keynote Address and registration• May 2-3: Joint Conference• May 4-5: Post-Conference training and

workshops• Call for Papers and for Workshops:

November 25th 2006

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Planning Assumptions

• Attendance of 300 plus• No meals, only coffee morning and afternoon• No exceptions to conference fees• All travel by lowest cost options• Full time coordinator for six months• Steering Committee made up from both

Associations with sub-committees for program, budget etc

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Draft Conference Budget (US$)

• Preparation• Facilities• Simultaneous translation (3 lang)• IDEAS Board travel• ReLAC travel • Guest Speakers (travel etc)• Training workshops• Hospitality • Consumables• Conference Report and CD• Combined Administration• Communications• Contingencies @ 10%• Total

30,00020,00040,00036,0008,00039,00020,0008,00013,00028,00020,0003,00026,000291,000

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Conference Fees and Bursaries

• Conference fees will be $500 per head for all participants

• Training workshop fees will be $250 per participant

• ReLAC intends to offer small grants to each of its networks for at least two participants

• IDEAS intends to offer all inclusive bursaries

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Funding Needs

• Funds are sought:– to enable the two Associations to organize

and execute the conference: $145,000 each

• ReLAC seeks about $112,000 to cover its participation grants

• IDEAS seeks funding for about 30 “all in” bursaries at $5,000 each