Global Evaluation Conclave
A new vision is emerging of how evaluation can serve development. The questions are changing, from: "what was the outcome of this project?" to "what needs to happen to bring about deeper change in societies and system?"
For evaluation to keep up with such fundamental shifts: methodologies must become more adaptable and rigorous; stakeholders must constantly engage with related fields of research, theory and practice to foster innovation and leadership; a vibrant, diverse and experimenting evaluation community must share emergent practice and embrace and create space for critique, debate and analysis.
The evaluation conclave has been conceived to contribute towards this vision. The conclave will be a platform for the evaluation community to share, deliberate and learn from thought leaders from across geographies, disciplines, and communities. The idea is to build bridges of theory, practice, and ideas across groups and to potentially form new ones. The event will be the first-of-its-kind in South Asia, and perhaps globally. Leading development theorists, thinkers, activists and policy makers from South Asia will facilitate and embed discussions in current development issues and contexts that evaluation must respond to. Core to the event will be small-group workshops on a range of themes lead by global leaders. Plenary sessions will bring small groups together and connect the workshops into a larger set of ideas.
The conclave has been conceptualized by the South Asian Community of Evaluators (COE) and the International Development Research Centre (IDRC). COE members, the Association for Stimulating Knowledge (ASK) and Sambodhi Research & Communications have volunteered to jointly coordinate the event.
