Symposium: “Getting to Results: Evaluation Capacity Building and Development”

International Development Evaluation Association

Date: March 17-20, 2009

Venue: Johannesburg, South Africa)

CALL FOR SUBMISSION OF PAPER PROPOSALS.

Submission Deadline: January 12, 2009

Please note that scholarships for individuals from developing or transition countries are available.

Introduction:

The Board of the International Development Evaluation Association (IDEAS) is pleased to announce its next Global Assembly on March 18-20, 2009 in Johannesburg, South Africa preceded by professional development training sessions on March 17. The theme of the assembly will be on evaluation capacity building and its role in development.

The Assembly will focus on the issues involved in evaluation capacity building, how such efforts can strengthen the evidence available to organizations and countries to inform their own development, and what we know of good practices in this area. Capacity building has been recognized now for a decade or more as crucial to development. The measurement (and management) issues embedded in generating and disseminating evaluative information are now understood to be critical to informing decision making. This conference will explore these topics with the intent to clarify present knowledge on evaluation capacity building, learn of what is working well (or not), and what are the challenges in taking these promising efforts forward. The intention is to inform the results agenda within the development context.

The theme of this coming global assembly underscores the role that evaluative knowledge can play in development in general, and more particularly, how to build and sustain the capacity to bring evaluative knowledge into the decision making process so as to enhance the achievement of results. Thus, the theme of evaluation capacity building encompasses issues of knowledge creation, knowledge transmission, knowledge synthesis, and sustainability.

Conference Program Agenda and call for Papers/Proposals:

The Assembly will organize itself into a number of substantive strands. Each of these strands will be discussed here. Potential presenters are invited to make a proposal for any one or more of these strands. General paper proposals on evaluation outside the theme of the strands are also invited. It should be emphasized here that this Assembly will emphasis practical learning and examples, as well as theoretical or academic approaches. We especially invite papers that are grounded in development experiences-papers that describe, discuss, analyze, and argue about how evaluation capacity building can or cannot be done, should or should not be done.

Strand 1: Building Evaluation Capacity in Response to the Paris Declaration and the Accra Agenda for Action. This strand will focus on the commitments made in the Paris Declaration and the Accra Agenda for Action to strengthen monitoring and evaluation systems in order to track development performance. The issues of how to address capacity building initiatives in these context of these two declarations, how to measure effectively performance of both donor and developing countries, and how to ensure transfer of skills to sustain M&E capability are all on the table and for which answers are elusive. Papers detailing the experiences of countries to date are especially welcomed. (Chair: Daniel Svoboda svoboda@dww.cz)

Strand 2: Institutional capacity building. When the focus is on institutional capacity building, issues of supply versus demand in the public, private, and NGO/CSO sectors of society are immediately apparent. The role of evaluation associations, standards for evaluation performance, the role of credentials, national evaluation policies, and incentives for quality evaluations all come as well to the forefront. Presenters are invited to address any of these dimensions of institutional capacity building in evaluation. (Chair: Denis Jobin denis_jobin@ Yahoo.ca)

Strand 3: Regional Responses/Regional Strategies for building Evaluation Capacity.

Papers and presentations are invited that examine regional efforts and strategies being deployed to strengthen evaluation capacity. The initiatives can come from bi-lateral and multi-lateral donors, NGOs, CSO’s, government agencies and ministries, and the private sector. The efforts to share North-South and South-South learning and experience are especially invited. (Chair: Doha Abdelhamid abdelhamiddoha@ yahoo.com)

Strand 4: Evaluation Capacity Buil ding-Tools, Techniques, and Strategies. Capacity building involves multiple tools, techniques, and strategies. What do we know of the success (or not) of these different components of capacity building? For example, what do we know of effectiveness of on site training, mentoring, embedding experts inside organizations, graduate programs, setting up IT and MIS systems, creating regulations and guidelines, and credentialing-to name seven different approaches. Presentations are welcome that address experie nces with any of these approaches. Chair: Murad Mukhtarov murad_mukhtarov@ yahoo.com)

Strand 5: The Measurement and Assessment of Evaluation Capacity Building. Within this strand we invite proposals for papers or presentations that address experiences or efforts to actually evaluate capacity building. We welcome assessments that both describe and analyze the methodological choices and implications of how to approach this particular arena of evaluation. We would look for papers that are methodological varied-some using qualitative methods, some quantitative methods, and some mixed methods. Likewise, papers that assess the unintended consequences of methods, focus on both technical and ethical dimensions, and the implications of different methods on potential findings are encouraged. (Chair: Frederic Martin fmartin@idea- international. org)

Strand 6: General Paper Sessions

Within this strand proposals for general papers of interest in development evaluation are invited. No restrictions are in place. Any paper on any topic of development evaluation is invited to be submitted for consideration. Panels will be formed from papers on similar topics. Potential presenters can submit a single paper proposal or a proposal for a full panel. (Chair: Khadija Khan khadijakhan01@yahoo.com)

Scholarship Support:

It is the intention of IDEAS to ensure a global representation of evaluators at the Johannesburg Assembly. Consequently, support will be sought for scholarships to ensure that IDEAS evaluators from across the globe are able to attend. First priority for scholarships will be for current IDEAS members who present a paper or are actively involved in the Assembly as a panel chair or discussant. Additional information on scholarship eligibility and criteria can be located on the IDEAS website.

Proposal Guidelines:

1) Each paper or panel proposal should be no more than 250 words. This proposal should provide the title of the presentation( s), the author(s), the stream for which it is proposed, and a summary of the subject and intention of the paper or panel.

2) The date for submission of all proposals to the respective chairs of the different streams is January 12, 2009!!

3) Consideration of any proposal after January 12, 2009 is at the full discretion of the chair of the respective stream.

4) Decisions on all proposals will be made within two weeks and presenters will be informed immediately.

We welcome your participation in IDEAS 2009 Global Assembly. We look forward to seeing you in Johannesburg!

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