(via Xceval)
Dear Friends
You may be interested in following next week’s Impact, Innovation and Learning conference, whose principle panel sessions are being live-streamed. Keynote speakers and panellists include:
- Bob Bob Picciotto (King’s College, UKES, EES), Elliot Stern, Editor of ‘Evaluation’, Bruno Marchal (Institute of Tropical Medicine, Antwerp), John Grove (Gates Foundation), Ben Ramalingan (ODI) ,Aaron Zazueta (GEF),Peter Loewe (UNIDO), Martin Reynolds (Open University),Bob Williams (Bob Williams), Richard Hummelbrunner (OAR), Patricia Rogers (Royal Melbourne Inst of Technology), Barbara Befani (IDS, EES), Laura Camfield and Richard Palmer-Jones (University of East Anglia), Chris Barnett (ITAD/IDS), Giel Ton (University of Wagenigen) ,John Mayne, Jos Vaessen (UNESCO), Oscar Garcia (UNDP), Lina Payne (DFID), Marie Gaarder (World Bank), Colin Kirk (UNICEF), Ole Winckler Andersen (DANIDA)
Impact, Innovation and Learning – live-streamed event, 26-27 March 2013
Current approaches to the evaluation of development impact represent only a fraction of the research methods used in political science, sociology, psychology and other social sciences. For example, systems thinking and complexity science, causal inference models not limited to counterfactual analysis, and mixed approaches with blurred ‘quali-quanti’ boundaries, have all shown potential for application in development settings. Alongside this, evaluation research could be more explicit about its values and its learning potential for a wider range of stakeholders. Consequently, a key challenge in evaluating development impact is mastering a broad range of approaches, models and methods that produce evidence of performance in a variety of interventions in a range of different settings.
The aim this event, which will see the launch of the new Centre for Development Impact (www.ids.ac.uk/cdi), is to shape a future agenda for research and practice in the evaluation of development impact. While this is an invitation-only event, we will be live-streaming the main presentations from the plenary sessions and panel discussions. If you would like to register watch any of these sessions online, please contact Tamlyn Munslow in the first instance at t.munslow@ids.ac.uk.
More information at:
http://www.ids.ac.uk/events/impact-innovation-and- learning-towards-a-research- and-practice-agenda-for-the- future If you are unable to watch the live-streamed events, there will be an Watch Again option, after the conference.
With best wishes,
Emilie Wilson
Communications Officer
Institute of Development Studies
Rick Davies comment 28 March 2013: Videos of 9 presentations and panels are now available online at http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/30426381
I’m not sure about who it is, beyond those listed, that feels the need for yet another ‘centre’ to help out on evaluating development impact. Increased emphasis on impact appears to have spawned quite some indulgence. Donors appear all too willing to pay for the same people, who obviously like talking to and writing for each other, a few too many times over.