IEG@50 Future of Evaluation: Charting a path in a changing development landscape
What is the future of evaluation?
Join us for a series of virtual conversations from April 8 to 10, 2024, on the future direction of the evaluation practice, the questions it will have to answer, and the impact of new technologies for ever greater data gathering and analysis.
To tackle these issues, the Future of Evaluation will bring together practitioners and scholars from across the evaluation field, together with users of evaluative evidence from development and government circles.
The event will also feature the announcement and presentation of the winning essay of the Young and Emerging Evaluators competition on culturally responsive evaluation.
Hosted by the Independent Evaluation Group and the Global Evaluation Initiative, this will be the culminating event of the IEG@50 anniversary celebrations.
Please save the dates!
Monday April 8
Session 1: The Role of Evaluation in a Changing Global Context
Virtual | 9:00AM – 10:00AM ET
How can evaluation remain relevant and provide policymakers with reliable evidence on global issues such as climate change, fragility, and pandemics, among others?
- Welcome: Sabine Bernabè, Vice President and Director-General, Evaluation, Independent Evaluation Group.
- Opening Remarks: Raj Kumar, Founding President and Editor-in-Chief, Devex.
- Speakers: Andrea Cook, Executive Director, Sustainable Development Goals System-Wide Evaluation Office, United Nations; Juha Ilari Uitto, former Director, Independent Evaluation Office, Global Environment Facility; Patricia Rogers, Founder, Better Evaluation, former Professor of Public Sector Evaluation, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology.
- Moderator: Marie Gaarder, Executive Director, 3ie.
Tuesday April 9
Session 2: How is Evaluation Evolving as a Practice?
Virtual | 9:00AM – 10:00AM ET
How is evaluation evolving as a practice between its professionalization with global standards and its use in different cultural contexts?
- Welcome and announcement of winner of Young and Emerging Evaluators competition: Sabine Bernabè, Vice President and Director-General, Evaluation, Independent Evaluation Group.
- Opening Remarks: Culturally Responsive Evaluation (presentation of the winning essay of the Young and Emerging Evaluator competition.)
- Speakers: Elliot Stern, Editor, Evaluation - international journal of theory, research and practice, Emeritus Professor of Evaluation Research, Lancaster University; Asela Kalugampitiya, former President, Asia Pacific Evaluation Association, Visiting Lecturer, University of Saarland and University of Sri Jayewardenepura; Josephine Watera, Assistant Director, Research Services and former Head of Monitoring and Evaluation Division, Parliament of Uganda.
- Moderator: Jozef Vaessen, Adviser, Independent Evaluation Group.
Wednesday April 10
Session 3: The Institutionalization of Evaluation
Virtual | 9:00AM – 10:00AM ET
How can evaluation as a knowledge and oversight function become more relevant and more Influential in policymaking environments?
- Welcome: Sabine Bernabè, Vice President and Director-General, Evaluation, Independent Evaluation Group.
- Opening Remarks: Ian Goldman, President, International Evaluation Academy, Monitoring and Evaluation Advisor, JET-IP Programme Management Unit, Presidency of South Africa.
- Speakers: Emmanuel Jimenez, Director General, Independent Evaluation Department, Asian Development Bank; Geeta Batra, Director, Independent Evaluation Office, Global Environment Facility; Howard White, Director, Evaluation and Evidence Synthesis, Global Development Network.
- Moderator: Dugan Fraser, Program Manager, Global Evaluation Initiative.
Session 4: The Impact of New Data and Technology on Evaluation
Virtual | 10:15AM – 11:15AM ET
A range of new technologies, from geospatial analysis to mining social media, offers new ways of gathering data. Advances in machine learning have increased the amount of data that can be processed for evaluations. What opportunities does this present for evaluators in an increasingly complex development landscape?
- Opening Remarks: Veronika Olazabal, Chief Impact and Evaluation Officer, BHP Foundation, Lecturer, School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University.
- Speakers: Emmanuel Letouzé, Director, Data-Pop Alliance, Founder and Executive Director, Open Algorithms; Nagaraja Rao Harshadeep, Disruptive Technology Global Lead, Sustainable Development Practice Group, World Bank; Estelle Raimondo, Head, Methods, Independent Evaluation Group.
- Moderator: Deon Filmer, Director, Research Group, World Bank.
- Closing Remarks: Sabine Bernabè, Vice President and Director-General, Evaluation, Independent Evaluation Group.