BWI: Evaluators across the Region Call for a National Evaluation Policy

Press release from Business Wire India
Source: The Evaluation Conclave 2010
Friday, October 29, 2010 03:28 PM IST (09:58 AM GMT)
Editors: General: Economy, Environment; Business: Education & training, Media & entertainment; Healthcare
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Evaluators across the Region Call for a National Evaluation Policy


New Delhi, Delhi, India, Friday, October 29, 2010 -- (Business Wire India) -- The 5-day South-Asian Evaluation Conclave on "Making Evaluations Matter" held in the capital, concluded today with the assembled evaluators re-emphasizing the need for National Policy on Evaluation and its proper implementation. Although more than 90% of India's development expenditure is funded by the State, most of the efforts at strengthening evaluation practices are from the non-State group. The Programme Evaluation Unit (PEO) was established by the Planning Commission in October 1952, it has produced only 212 evaluation reports since its establishment until today. Government seems to be doing little to institutionalize evaluation, and there is an urgent need to have National Evaluation Policy that makes evaluations a part of each development programme so that there is a constant process of review and assessment and learning that comes out of evaluations so that programmes are adapted accordingly.

The 5-day Conclave was a combination of keynote panels, training, workshops and paper presentations. It brought around 300 evaluators from over 10 countries in the region together to discuss and learn. The status of evaluations in the different South Asian countries was discussed. There was a common agreement among the participants that as there is a tremendous need to do more evaluations, there is also a need to encourage that the findings of evaluations are shared widely, discussed and finally incorporated in designing and implementing programs.

About the Organizers

The Evaluation Conclave has been conceptualized by the South Asian Community of Evaluators (COE) and the International Development Research Centre, Canada. The COE is a group of practitioners from South Asia working together for strengthening the field of evaluation in South Asia. The Association for Stimulating Knowledge (ASK) and Sambodhi Research & Communications both COE members, have volunteered to jointly coordinate the event with International Development Research Centre, Canada as a strategic partner. The Institute of Applied Manpower Research, a Planning Commission organisation is also one of the joint organizers.

Further information regarding the conclave can be found at www.evaluationconclave.org. Regular updates will be posted on the conclave blog at http://evaluationconclave.org/liveblog.php. You can also keep yourself updated on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/pages/The-Evaluation-conclave-2010/332268197214 or twitter http://twitter.com/#!/search/evaluationtalks.

Funders
The Evaluation Conclave is being organized through the generous funding support of the following organizations.

The International Development Research Centre, Canada ,The Rockefeller Foundation, The David and Lucile Packard Foundation, UNIFEM, 3ie (International Initiative for Impact Evaluation), UNICEF, The Active Learning Network for Accountability and Performance in Humanitarian Action

Partners

The partners for the conclave are PACT, International Organization for Cooperation in Evaluation and The Sri Lanka Evaluation Association.


CONTACT DETAILS
Madhavi Kochar, 20:20 Media, +91 9810788188, madhavi@2020india.com
Nishant Shukla, 20:20 Media, +91 9811515535, nishant.shukla@2020india.com
Chetna Sachdeva, 20:20 Media, +91 8800598786, chetna@2020india.com
Rebika Laishram, Sambodhi Research & Communications, +91 9711512408

KEYWORDS
ECONOMY, ENVIRONMENT, EDUCATION, MEDIA, HEALTHCARE

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