Youth and evaluation

Moderator

• Marco Segone, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), Director, Evaluation 

Panelists

• Abinash Dash, Development Monitoring and Evaluation Office, India, Director (Evaluation) 
• Antonia Rishko-Porcescu, EvalYouth, Moldova, Consultant 
• Cheng Wang, Horizon Global Youth Development Program, China, Executive Associate
• Qu Wei, Founder, School of Social Sciences, Tsinghua University, China, Horizons Global Youth Development Program; Director of Global Learning Center
• Sakina Mwinyimkuu, Prime Minister’s Office—Policy, Parliament and Coordination, Tanzania, Director of Performance Monitoring and Evaluation
• Sohini Mookherjee, CLEAR South Asia, India, Lead

Discussion Themes

• The biggest challenge of the presence and integration of young evaluators is one of recognition—they are not seen, and they are not recognized for their efforts on evaluation reports nor in key rosters of evaluators into which governments can tap.
• The skills gap between theory and practice needs to be addressed to help young evaluators be ready for the workforce. The onus is on seasoned evaluators to prepare the environment for the integration of young evaluators. Internships support bridging this gap.
• Inclusion of young evaluators requires demonstration of the value of evaluation and how they can have a meaningful and full career in the evaluation field. This can happen through direct and intentional evaluation curricula, mentorship and exposure to networks in which they can apply what they know and what they have learned.
• Integrating young evaluators needs to be thought about from the beginning of evaluation system development, rather than being an afterthought.
• There are obvious power dynamics between seasoned evaluators and young evaluators. Efforts should be made to allow for opportunities in which early career evaluators can learn from experienced evaluators and for young evaluators to be able to contribute their strengths.