Awareness About Evaluation of Programmes and Policies

Week Long Celebrations to Create Awareness About Evaluation of Programmes and Policies

The Programme Evaluation Organization (PEO) in the NITI Ayog and the National Institute for Labour Economics Research and Development (NILRD, earlier known as Institute of Applied Manpower Research), an autonomous organization under NITI Ayog, are jointly organizing EvalWeek, a five-day event (19 – 23 January 2015) featuring consultations on strategies to spread awareness about and use of evaluation as a tool for enhancing results from policies and programmes of sustainable development and good governance. The event marks the beginning of a chain of activities on the theme of evaluation for sustainable development planned by various national and international organizations across the globe coming together as EvalPartners over the year 2015, which has been declared as the International Year of Evaluation. Participants in EvalWeek consultations are expected to include Central and State government officials, representatives of international and national organizations, individual researchers, academicians and evaluation practitioners. The offices based in India of UN Women, UNICEF, OXFAM, 3ie,ISST, CMS also contributed in the planning and organization of the event. EvalWeek will be inaugurated on 19 January 2015 by Shri Rao Inderjit Singh, Hon’ble Minister of State for Planning (Independent Charge), at the India Habitat Building, New Delhi. On this occasion, an EvaluationTorch symbolizing spread of awareness and knowledge about evaluation will be handed over to the Minister by Mr. Marco Segone, Director of Independent Evaluation Office, UN Women and Co-Chair of United Nations Evaluation Group. A Compendium of articles on evaluation policies and practice contributed by various evaluation researchers and evaluation practitioners will also be relewased by Hon’ble Minister to mark the EvalWeek. A Key Note address will be given by Mr. Segone after the inauguration. A number of technical sessions of presentations discussions have been programmed for the five days of the Evalweek. The first of these, on the theme of Enabling Environment for Evaluation, will follow the Key Note Address by Mr. Segone, and will feature presentations on developing evaluation culture through sensitization, policy support to evaluation, strengthening capacity building for evaluation and evidence-based decision making. The afternoon of 19 January will feature two technical sessions, one a panel discussion on evaluation of social sector programmes and the other on the importance of participatory evaluation methods. Other events during the course of the week include interactions of delegates from other countries with various divisions of NITI Aayog, Round tables on gender-responsive and equity focused evaluations, case studies, emerging challenges, participatory approaches to evaluation and so on. The EvalWeek will conclude on 23 January 2015 with a summing up of the outcomes and valedictory address by the CEO, NITI Ayog. The Evaluation Torch will also be formally handed overto the next event of the International Evaluation Year.