Parliamentarians/legislative members as change agents: advancing national evaluation agendas and strengthening a culture of evidence and learning

Moderator

• Jane Mwangi, UNICEF Regional Adviser, Evaluation

Panelists

• Daniel Alonso Valckx, UNICEF, Evaluation Specialist (Multi-Country)
• Jérémie Adomahou, African Parliamentarian’s Network on Development Evaluation and Member of Parliament, Benin
• Josephine Watera, Research Services, Parliament of Uganda, Uganda Assistant Director
• Jules Dumangas, Budget Policy Research Service, the Philippines, Supervising Legislative Staff Officer III / Chief Economic and General Public Services Group
• Kabir Hashim, Member of Parliament, Sri Lanka
• Natalia Nikitenko, Member of Global Parliamentarian Forum for Evaluation, Former Member of Parliament of Kyrgyzstan, Kyrgyzstan

Discussion Themes

• The role of legislators is important for setting up evaluation systems: Parliament should be at the heart of establishing evaluation systems for meeting SDGs targets. Parliamentarians are not passive recipients of evaluation findings but can be active agents who shape how evaluation is used to improve governance and achieve development goals.
• However, the role and potential of parliamentarians in national evaluation capacity development has been underestimated. The success of the SDGs depends on policy, and therefore evidence is vital in the decision-making process.
• The M&E units within a government structure should act as knowledge brokers by packaging accessible information for parliamentarians.
• Parliaments are challenged by urgent citizen needs, accountability, transparency, value for money, results and ensuring appropriate resource allocation.
• There is a tension between the need for credible, independent evaluations and their use as political tools by different actors.
• When there is a lack of political trust in elected officials, evaluation can be a tool to bring evidence and trust back to discussions.