‘M&E on the Cutting Edge’ Conference - ‘Partnering for Success - How Monitoring and Evaluation can strengthen Partnerships for Sustainable Development’

The Wageningen University Centre for Development Innovation in the Netherlands organises the 8th annual ‘M&E on the Cutting Edge’ conference on the 17-18 of March 2016.

Abstract

Partnerships for development are crucial. Global efforts have focused on the Sustainable Development Goals, as the issues being tackled are increasingly recognised as complex. Collective action is unavoidable as the post-2015 UN
development agenda stresses. Multi-stakeholder partnerships (MSPs) are ‘a form of governance, a way in which groups of people can make decisions and take action for the collective good, be it at local, national or collective scale. They range from short consultation processes to multi-year evolving engagements, with more or less structure or formal organisational arrangements’. The enthusiasm for partnerships is not yet matched with solid understanding of when partnerships are needed and what their specific role is in sustainable development efforts. Neither is it clear how to
monitor the functioning of partnerships, or evaluate their promised impact in creating value at multiple levels. Partnerships are not always effective, since conflicts arise, powers are abused, downward accountability hardly
takes place, and learning and communication are often inadequate. Monitoring and evaluation (M&E) can help strengthen multi-stakeholder partnerships. M&E can support the learning and decision making processes, holding partners accountable or in assessing the functioning of partnerships and how they can reach more sustainable results.

What this conference is about

This two-day conference focuses on how those active in monitoring and evaluation (M&E) can contribute better to partnerships in development. Key questions to be explored include:

1. What kinds of partnerships exist that could benefit from the support of M&E processes?
2. How can M&E strengthen these partnerships for sustainable development?
3. What is specific about the M&E within different kinds of partnerships, as compared to other implementation forms?

Who this conference is for

This conference is for people involved in partnerships and wanting to make them work better and deliver more, as well as those working on monitoring and evaluation of such partnerships. As for all the conferences in this series, participants will come from government, international organisations, civil society, private sector, M&E and academia.

More information and registration