National Evaluation Capacities Conference 2017

About NEC Conference 2017

Venue

Turkey

Date

16-20 October

Theme

"People, Planet and Progress in SDG Era"

NEC 2017 was co-hosted by UNDP IEO, the Regional Bureau for Europe and CIS and the Government of Turkey. It was held in Istanbul Turkey from 16 to 20 October 2017.
The theme of the Conference is People, Planet and Progress in the SDG Era.

This Conference was designed to offer opportunities to share experiences and learning amongst government officials from national and sub-national institutions directly and indirectly engaged with evaluation and the SDG agenda. As the SDGs are universal, participation from all countries will be encouraged, to facilitate the development of new partnerships in new configurations. UNDP staff engaged in supporting national governments on evaluation, governance and the SDG agenda, evaluators and other development actors from UNDP programme countries, members of the European Evaluation Society (EES), experts from other networks such as the United Nations Evaluation Group, the Evaluation Coordination Group of the multi-lateral development banks, and OECD-DAC, as well as from professional evaluation associations and other members of the wider global evaluation community will also be welcomed at the conference.

The Conference promoted exchanges on progress since NEC 2015, examining innovations and lessons learned in strengthening enabling environments, national evaluation policy frameworks and institutional set-ups, as well as pursuing the discussions initiated in Brazil in 2011 on the importance of independence, credibility and use of evaluations to improve the effectiveness of public policy, programmes and service delivery. At the same time, the Conference explored the implications of the SDGs for evaluation and national evaluation capacities. This included a focus on the principle of “no one left behind” as well as an exploration of multi-stakeholder approaches, including engagement with the private sector. In addition, as “eradicating poverty in all its forms and dimensions, combating inequality within and among countries, preserving the planet, creating sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth and fostering social inclusion are linked to each other and are interdependent”, Conference participants explored what these interlinkages and interdependencies imply for evaluation practice.

Highlights

Programmes

Plenary 1

NEC 2017: PEOPLE, PLANET AND PROGRESS IN THE SDG ERA

Moderator: Rastislav Vrbensky, Deputy Assistant Administrator and Deputy Director, Regional Bureau for Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States, UNDP

Speakers:

Indran Naidoo, Director, Independent Evaluation Office, UNDP

Riitta Oksanen, Deputy Director General, Department for Development Policy, Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Finland and President, European Evaluation Society

Parallel Sessions - Set B

SESSION 4: COUNTRY-LED EVALUATION IN THE ERA OF THE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS: GUIDANCE NOTE AND ON-LINE ASSESSMENT TOOL

Moderator: Arild Hauge, Deputy Director, Independent Evaluation Office, UNDP

Speakers:

Vijayalakshmi Vadivelu, Evaluation Advisor, Independent Evaluation Office, UNDP
Per Øyvind Bastøe, Director, Evaluation Department, Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation and Chair, OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC)
Nina Sarishvili, Head of Service, Policy Planning and Strategic Coordination, Administration of the Government of Georgia
Mohd. Monirul Islam, Deputy Chief, General Economics Division, Planning Commission, Bangladesh
Iye Moakofi, Principal District Plans Coordinator, Ministry of Local Government & Rural Development, Botswana
Timothy Lubanga, Commissioner of Monitoring & Evaluation, Office of the Prime Minister, Uganda

SESSION 5: EVALUATING PROGRESS IN SDG16: EFFECTIVE GOVERNANCE AND SUSTAINING PEACE

Moderator: Shelley Inglis, Regional Cluster Leader, Governance and Peacebuilding, Regional Centre for Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States, UNDP

Speakers:

Dmitri Belan, Research Officer, Moldova Social Innovation Hub (MiLab), UNDP
Edward K. Mulbah, Executive Director, Peacebuilding Office, Ministry of Internal Affairs, Liberia
Elnura Omurkulova-Ozierska,Researcher, National Strategic Studies Institute in Kyrgyzstan
Alexandra Wilde, Advisor, Oslo Governance Centre, UNDP

SESSION 6: SDG INDICATOR FRAMEWORK, DATA AND EVALUATION: GLOBAL, REGIONAL AND NATIONAL FOLLOW-UP AND REVIEW PROCESSES.

Moderator: Paulo Jannuzzi, Professor, National School of Statistical Sciences, Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics, Brazil

Speakers:

Yongyi Min, Chief, SDG Monitoring Unit, Statistics Division, United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs
Phindile Masango, Economist, Ministry of Economic Planning and Development, Swaziland
Entela Lako, Programme Specialist, UNDP Albania

SESSION 7: PARTNERSHIPS FOR EVIDENCE-BASED POLICY

Moderator: Irena Vojackova-Sollorano, United Nations Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative in Turkey

Speakers:

Prudence Kaoma, Assistant Director, Research and Evaluation, Ministry of National Development Planning, Zambia
John Njovu, Honorary Member, Monitoring and Evaluation Association (ZaMEA), Zambia
Jennifer Mutua, Chair, Evaluation Society of Kenya
Tomasz Kupiec, Researcher, Evaluation for Government Organizations (EGO), Poland

SESSION 8: THE EVALUATION HAS BEEN COMPLETED – NOW WHAT?

Moderator: Karla Hershey, United Nations Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative in Serbia

Speakers:

Gerd Trogemann, Manager, Istanbul Regional Hub, UNDP
Toily Kurbanov, Deputy Executive Coordinator, United Nations Volunteers programme (UNV)
Sasha Jahic, Communications Specialist, Independent Evaluation Office, UNDP
Clair Grant-Salmon, Head of Audience Development, International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED)

SESSION 9: MULTIPLE DIMENSIONS AND MULTIPLE STAKEHOLDERS: INNOVATIONS IN MONITORING AND EVALUATION FOR THE SDGs

Moderator: Gonzalo Guerra, Regional Adviser on Monitoring and Planning, Regional Hub for Latin America and the Caribbean UNDP

Speakers:

Marco Vinicio Espinal Martínez, Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist, National Competitiveness Council, Dominican Republic
Amos Misomali, Resident Advisor, Johns Hopkins University, Malawi

Plenary 3

DEALING WITH COMPLEXITY IN AN INCREASINGLY INTERCONNECTED WORLD: RETHINKING THE DAC CRITERIA

Moderator: Caroline Heider, Director General, Independent Evaluation Group, World Bank

Panellists:

Susanne Frueh, Director, Internal Oversight Service, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and Chair, United Nations Evaluation Group
Per Øyvind Bastøe, Director, Evaluation Department, Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation and Chair, OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC)
Riitta Oksanen, Senior Advisor, Development Evaluation, Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Finland and President, European Evaluation Society
Indran Naidoo, Director, Independent Evaluation Office, UNDP and Vice Chair, United Nations Evaluation Group

Parallel Sessions - Set C

SESSION 10: SDGs AND THE PRIVATE SECTOR: HOW ARE COMPANIES MEASURING THEIR CONTRIBUTIONS TO DEVELOPMENT?

Moderator: Marcos Neto, Director, UNDP, Istanbul International Center for Private Sector in Development

Speakers:

Prateek Ahuja, Regional Manager, Medtronic, India
Asher Hasan, Founder & CEO, Naya Jeevan, Pakistan
Gonca Ongan, Managing Director, Koç University Social Impact Forum, Turkey
Tomohiro Nagasaki, Impact Team Lead, Business Call to Action

SESSION 11: MISSING THE FORESTS FOR THE TREES? WHAT ARE GLOBAL EVALUATIONS OF FORESTRY PROGRAMMES TELLING US?

Moderator: Jyotsna (Jo) Puri, Head, Independent Evaluation Office, Green Climate Fund

Speakers:

Alan Fox, Evaluation Advisor, Independent Evaluation Office, UNDP
Mario Boccucci, Head, UN-REDD Programme Secretariat Nuri Ozbagdatli, Climate Change and Environment Portfolio Manager, UNDP

SESSION 12: CIVIL SOCIETY’S ROLE IN EVIDENCE AND SOCIAL ACCOUNTABILITY TO ENSURE NO ONE IS LEFT BEHIND

Moderator: Haneen Malallah, Knowledge, Learning, and Accountability Advisor, Oxfam America

Speakers:

Sulley Gariba, Evaluation specialist; public policy analyst, Institute for Policy Alternatives, Ghana
Seble Tewldebirhan, Communications Officer, Oxfam, Ethiopia
Mohammad-Anwar Sadat Adam, Economic Justice Programme and Campaigns Manager, Oxfam, Ghana
Stefano D’Errico, Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning Manager, International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED)

SESSION 13: FROM DATA TO DECISIONS: HOW IS NEW DATA ALTERING EVALUATION, POLICY AND PROGRAMMING IN REAL TIME?

Moderator: Lejla Sadiku, Open Data Specialist, Regional Centre for Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States, UNDP

Speakers:

Emmanuel Letouzé, Data-Pop Alliance and MIT Media Lab
Paula Hidalgo-Sanchis, Manager, United Nations Global Pulse Lab, Uganda
Chitra Deshpande, Senior Evaluation Officer, Independent Office of Evaluation, International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)
Dmitri Belan, Research Officer and Service Designer, MiLab Moldova

SESSION 14A: REVIEW OF NATIONAL EVALUATION SYSTEMS AND CAPACITIES IN ASIA PACIFIC FOR EVALUATING PROGRESS TOWARDS SDGs

Moderator: Arild Hauge, Deputy Director, Independent Evaluation Office, UNDP

Speakers:

Riccardo Polastro,Regional Evaluation Advisor, East Asia and Pacific Regional Office, UNICEF
Michaela Prokop, Regional Programme Advisor, Sustainable Development Goals, Regional Centre for Asia and the Pacific, UNDP
Hanani binti Sapit, Director, Outcome Evaluation Division, Implementation Coordination Unit, Prime Minister’s Department, Government of Malaysia
Ayanthi De Silva, Director General, Department of Project Management and Monitoring, Ministry of Development Assignments, Sri Lanka
Dorothy Lucks, Co-Chair, EvalSDGs

SESSION 14 B: PARTNERSHIPS: PEER-TO-PEER LEARNING FOR STRENGTHENED EVALUATION CAPACITIES

Moderator: Arild Hauge, Deputy Director, Independent Evaluation Office, UNDP

Speakers:

Timothy Lubanga, Commissioner for Monitoring and Evaluation, Office of the Prime Minister and Chair of The Twende Mbele Management Committee, Uganda
Ana Laura Garcia, Deputy Director, Management and Evaluation, Planning and Budget Office, Presidency of the Republic of Uruguay
Miguel Angel Lombardo, Administrator, South Cooperation for Policy Evaluation, International and Ibero-American Foundation for Administration and Public Policies, Spain

SESSION 15 A: FISHBOWL: INDEPENDENCE, CREDIBILITY & USE OF EVALUATIONS

Facilitator: Riitta Oksanen, Deputy Director General, Department for Development Policy, Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Finland

SESSION 15 B: PARTNERSHIPS: DAC DONORS AND THEIR ROLE IN EVALUATION CAPACITY DEVELOPMENT FOR SDGs

Moderator: Riitta Oksanen, Deputy Director General Department for Development Policy, Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Finland and President, European Evaluation Society

Speaker:

Antonie de Kemp, Team leader Development Cooperation, Policy and Operations Evaluation Department, Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs

SESSION 16 A: MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS? MYSTERIOUS WAYS OF IMPACT INVESTING

Moderator: Fredrik Korfker, Development Finance Consultant

Speaker:

Raghavan Narayanan, Industry Lead, Independent Evaluation Group Private Sector Evaluations, World Bank

SESSION 16 B: THEORY-BASED EVALUATION OF PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP PROJECTS AND PROGRAMMES

Moderator: Fredrik Korfker, Development Finance Consultant

Speakers:

Elsa de Sarmento, Associate researcher at Novafrica, Nova Business School of Management and Economics, Portugal
Mehmet Uzunkaya,Planning Expert, Ministry of Development, Turkey

SESSION 17: EVALUATIONS: A MISSED OPPORTUNITY FOR THE SDGs VOLUNTARY NATIONAL REVIEW?

Moderator: Indran Naidoo, Director, Independent Evaluation Office, UNDP

Speakers:

Stefano D’Errico, Monitoring, evaluation, accountability and learning manager, International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED)
Sami Pirkkala,Prime Minister’s Office, Finland
Izzet Ari, Head of Department, Ministry of Development, Turkey
Luz Keila Virginia Gramajo Vilchez, SDGs Technical Coordinator, Presidential Secretariat for Planning and Programming, Guatemala

SESSION 18: DEALING WITH COMPLEXITY: AN INNOVATIVE META-RESULTS FRAMEWORK FOR THE EVALUATION, MONITORING AND REPORTING OF TRANSFORMATIVE INTERVENTIONS AT SCALE ON THE NEXUS FOREST-CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION-SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Facilitator: Mario Boccucci, Head, UN-REDD Programme Secretariat

Plenary 4: Keynotes Address

DEALING WITH COMPLEXITY IN AN INCREASINGLY INTERCON- NECTED WORLD

Keynote speaker: Michael Woolcock, Lead Social Development Specialist, Development Research Group, World Bank

Moderator: Indran Naidoo, Director, Independent Evaluation Office, UNDP

Documents

Partners

UNDP Regional Bureau for Europe and CIS

The UNDP Regional Bureau for Europe and CIS is on the ground in 19 countries and territories in the region, working with national partners, connecting people to knowledge and addressing their development challenges. In Europe and Central Asia, UNDP is moving from helping countries steer their ‘transition’ to supporting states in pursuing sustainable development – policy advice that has generated lessons for other regions.

The European Evaluation Society

The mandate of the EES is to stimulate, guide and promote the theory, practice, and utilization of evaluation in Europe and beyond. The EES vision is a world where evaluation contributes to human welfare through social learning. Specifically, EES seeks to advance evaluation knowledge and to encourage adoption of good practices by fostering evaluation excellence, independence, and partnerships. The EES will contribute to the overall conceptualization of the conference, bring high-level technical expertise to the workshops and Conference sessions, and assist in moderating different components of the conference.

The Government of the Republic of Turkey

The Government of the Republic of Turkey will co-host the conference. UNDP and Turkey signed a Partnership Framework Agreement in 2011. Turkey and UNDP share a mutual interest to facilitate the exchange of development knowledge and expertise across regions. Turkey’s strategic location at the crossroads of different continents enables the country to take a more prominent role in the international arena. Its active presence and engagement in international and regional organizations allows it to advocate for an advance global development agendas, including Agenda 2030.

Country Participation