By Clement Mensah Consultant, Independent Development Evaluation, African Development Bank On 18 July 2020, the United Nations Secretary-General, António Guterres, in an address delivered in honour of Nelson Mandela International Day, bemoaned the growing global inequalities, charging world leaders to step up action in order to realize the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Indeed, various reports – including Oxfam’s Commitment to Reducing Inequality (CRI) Index 2018, World Inequality Lab’s World Inequality Report 2018, and the Bill and Melinda Gates’ Goalkeepers Examining Inequality 2019 – have similarly raised alarms about growing inequalities in the areas of income, gender, and access to social services and more. Besides, subnational inequalities between rural and urban areas or regions are also widening. For example, northern territories in West African countries such as Benin, Togo and Cote d’Ivoire are poorer compared to their southern counterparts. Unsurprisingly, the onset of the novel COVID-19 pandemic has come to exacerbate territorial inequalities. For example, a territorial assessment of the impact of the pandemic in some OECD countries revealed a disproportionate health and economic impact on poor urban areas and regions[1]. This clearly exposes the huge regional development disparities that exist within countries. And in some countries, these disparities have persisted for decades, with national development agendas favouring some people and places over others. Unsurprisingly, the onset of the novel COVID-19 pandemic has come to exacerbate territorial inequalities. Indeed, these territorial inequalities don’t just happen. They are the result of non-inclusive policies, weak institutional arrangements, and poor development governance processes including how governments set national policy priorities. This certainly calls for a rethink of regional development policies with broader national development agendas. But, do these rising regional inequalities mean anything for development evaluation? Can evaluators – through their evaluations – inform better regional development policies? I dare say yes! Territorial inequalities don’t just happen. They are the result of non-inclusive policies, weak institutional arrangements, and poor development governance processes. Leveraging the power of development evaluation In July 2019, I remotely participated in a side event jointly organized by EVALSDGs, UNICEF and UNITAR during the 2019 High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development. The event, which had a mix of senior evaluators and policy-makers as panellists, discussed pertinent issues regarding the evaluation imperatives for a successful implementation of the SDGs at the country level. What actually stood out for me though was a terse discussion on the power of evaluation. Not only did the panellists reinforce the accountability-promoting function of evaluations, but they also talked about how evaluation lessons could be leveraged to shape and bring about improvements in government policies and development interventions in general. And that for governments and their development partners, investing more in evaluation is a win-win for better inclusive development policies. Hence, I believe the development evaluation community stands in a very good position to help governments and development partners design as well as implement the right policies and interventions using the most effective institutional arrangements and processes so as to correct these growing subnational inequalities. Of course, by the nature of their work, evaluators do not have the luxury of choosing which interventions to evaluate. But as a community, they can be a critical force in shaping conversations and debates on topical developmental issues including for instance, pointing out areas where evidence is lacking regarding what works and what doesn’t in the fight against regional development inequalities. Evaluators do not have the luxury of choosing which interventions to evaluate. But as a community, they can be a critical force in shaping conversations and debates on topical developmental issues. How can the evaluation community be a part of the solution? There are a number of ways by which the evaluation community can help governments tackle growing inequalities. First, a renewed evaluation agenda that specifically targets territorially-focused inclusive development policies and interventions is needed. There is a dearth of evidence on the effectiveness of regional development policies – especially in developing countries – even though many countries continue to try out place-based and regional policies aimed at revitalizing historically disadvantaged territories. Stepping up evaluation efforts in this regard is crucial. Of course, such an agenda should also prioritize the policy-making design processes and development structures. For example, as part of country-focused evaluations, it may be vital to examine how national policy priority setting happens. Also, in some countries, meso-level, territorially-focused development authorities have been established to augment traditional local government structures. We need to understand whether such parallel arrangements are more effective in addressing subnational inequalities or otherwise. Second, we need to develop new tools for measuring efforts towards leaving no place behind. For governments and development partners alike, having in place some form of validation tools that are able to flag how their policies and programmes are sensitive to regional disparities in-country is important. Specific to multilateral development banks (MDBs), including a specific benchmark in validation tools – in addition to other thematic areas such as gender and green growth – can help flag whether a country support programme adequately guarantees equitable regional development. By doing this, evaluation offices will afford MDBs the opportunity to have a deliberate approach to addressing subnational inequalities. Developing complementary tools specifically dedicated to tracking and measuring governments efforts and or readiness to bridging territorial disparities is key. In addition, tools such as the multidimensional poverty index continue to provide useful insights into subnational patterns in the area of poverty for example. But developing complementary tools specifically dedicated to tracking and measuring governments efforts and or readiness to bridging territorial disparities is key. By nature, regional development programmes are complex and so is their evaluation. Having some sort of an index or dashboard with a granular insight into in-country disparities is a good start. Such tool can be comparable across countries. One of the benefits of such a tool is that it will elevate issues of subnational disparities and demonstrate how governments across the world are addressing them, allowing for sharing of best practice. Third, there is a need to build evaluation capacities for regional development. This may include the development and dissemination of contemporary guidelines for conducting evaluations for regional development policies and programmes. In addition, deepening regional development-evaluation dialogues using platforms such as a community of practice may be helpful. These recommendations are not exhaustive but provide good entry points for the development evaluation community to proactively engage in discourses on subnational inequalities. But, this cannot happen without the support of governments themselves. It is only in such collaborative spirit that the development evaluation community can support them win the inequality battle and eventually make significant strides towards leaving no place behind by 2030. [1] OECD. 2020. The territorial impact of COVID-19: Managing the crisis across levels of government. https://read.oecd-ilibrary.org/view/?ref=128_128287-5agkkojaaa&title=The-territorial-impact-of-covid-19-managing-the-crisis-across-levels-of-government Clement Mensah is a researcher and an emerging evaluator currently working as a consultant with the Independent Development Evaluation Unit of the African Development Bank. He is a member of the South African Monitoring & Evaluation Association and a doctoral candidate at the Institute for Social Development, University of the Western Cape, South Africa. Follow Clement on Twitter and LinkedIn or contact via mcashine@gmail.com.

By Jayathma Wickramanayake United Nations Secretary-General’s Envoy on Youth In recent years, ‘youth’ has become a bit of a buzzword in relation to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development – this is great, of course, but too often the involvement of young people is limited to one-off consultations or being tasked with the responsibilities of implementation without any follow up. As the UN Secretary-General’s Envoy on Youth, promoting youth-led accountability for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is at the core of my mandate, along with ensuring that young people are included in all phases of our work – from allocating budgets, designing programmes, monitoring implementation and critically reviewing progress. Although championing the critical involvement of youth is part of my professional mission, it is also my genuine belief that the only way to realize the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is if all partners work towards it as equal partners. Achieving the 2030 Agenda with and for young people Youth are recognized as torchbearers for the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. [1] Currently our world is the youngest it has ever been, with over 1.8 billion young people between the ages of 10 and 24. The success or failure in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals will directly affect the empowerment and opportunities of this generation of young people, the majority of whom call the global south their home; close to 90 per cent. Even though they are undoubtedly the generation most impacted by the delivery of the 2030 Agenda, young people are not passively waiting for change to happen. They are taking matters into their own hands; leading initiatives in their communities, countries and at the global level to advance, monitor and evaluate the implementation of the SDGs. Not only is the Eval4Action campaign aligned with Youth2030: The UN Youth Strategy and the Decade of Action, but the EvalYouth Global Network is co-founder and co-leader of the campaign. This campaign sets a good example of how the UN can be working not only for, but with young people. With 10 years to go until 2030, accelerated action in speed and scope is needed to meet the Goals – and young people must be at the forefront. We need to strengthen youth-led accountability processes at global, regional and national levels, building capacity of young evaluators and advocating for strengthening national evaluation systems and capacities together with other stakeholders. The launch of the “Decade of EVALUATION of Action” brings me incredible joy because of its proactive initiative to ensure the space for meaningful youth participation at all levels. Not only is the Eval4Action campaign aligned with Youth2030: The UN Youth Strategy and the Decade of Action, but the EvalYouth Global Network is co-founder and co-leader of the campaign. This campaign sets a good example of how the UN can be working not only for, but with young people. ‘Believe in Better’ In my work, I am privileged to meet young people from all over the world leading action in their local communities. One thing is clear; although young people often do not have a seat at the decision-making table and structural barriers prevent their participation, they still find creative and innovative informal ways to take the lead. Whether this is through their own work, campaigns to improve meaningful youth participation, shadow reporting, providing citizen-generated data, designing their own youth-led monitoring and evaluation frameworks or championing awareness of the SDGs at the local and national level – they are committed to making the 2030 Agenda a success. Enhanced and more inclusive evaluation provides evidence, lessons and pathways to strengthen equality for all, including the most disadvantaged youth. To capture some of these stories and good examples of youth-led accountability, my Office – in partnership with Action Aid Denmark, Restless Development and the Major Group for Children and Youth – recently launched a working paper titled ‘Believe in Better’. This paper provides concrete recommendations for governments, civil society and international organizations on how to make accountability processes more inclusive of young people in all their diversity. While I encourage you all to read it, I also want to highlight a few of its main findings: We need to strengthen meaningful youth inclusion in the accountability processes and in the Voluntary National Review’s presented annually by Member States to the High level Political Forum; To avoid ‘consultation fatigue’ we must focus on bringing ‘accountability back’ to young partners, monitors or reviewers who do a great job contributing with data, but who are rarely included in all steps of a process, including presentation of results and decision making; We need to strengthen ownership of the SDG agenda at all levels by creating accountability processes that are embedded, localized and transparent, leaving no one behind. In strengthening capacities of young evaluators, we must enable spaces and build inclusive processes where young people in all their diversity, especially young women and girls, indigenous youth, young people with disabilities, young people who identify as LGBTIQ and other marginalized groups can participate in a meaningful and safe way. Enhanced and more inclusive evaluation provides evidence, lessons and pathways to strengthen equality for all, including the most disadvantaged youth. We cannot afford to leave young people behind If young people are not part of measuring the progress of the SDGs and adjusting our policies and strategies accordingly, we will be leaving the most vulnerable groups behind. In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic – which has affected all our lives – this conversation is more important than ever. Still around the world, youth are at the forefront demanding accountability from decision makers. Now is the time to even further strengthen their meaningful and inclusive participation in the formal processes that lead to actual change. The global crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic has widened social and economic inequalities, and its socioeconomic consequences disproportionately affects the future and present of young people. Still around the world, youth are at the forefront demanding accountability from decision makers. Now is the time to even further strengthen their meaningful and inclusive participation in the formal processes that lead to actual change. I want to welcome the launch of the Eval4Action campaign and congratulate all partners. I am convinced that this will be an important platform to enhance our common advocacy to put youth-led accountability front and center of the Decade of Action and the 10 years left to deliver on the SDGs. [1] UNDESA. 2018. World Youth Report. youth and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. https://www.un.org/development/desa/youth/wp-content/uploads/sites/21/2018/12/WorldYouthReport-2030Agenda.pdf Jayathma Wickramanayake was appointed as the UN Secretary-General’s Envoy on Youth in June 2017 at the age of 26. In this role, Jayathma Wickramanayake works to expand the UN’s work with and for young people and advocacy efforts across all four pillars of work – sustainable development, human rights, peace and security and humanitarian action – and serves as a representative of and advisor to the Secretary-General. Follow Jayathma on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook via @UNYouthEnvoy. For more information, visit un.org/youthenvoy.

By Leticia Taimo, Margie Roper and Zamokuhle Thwala Khulisa Management Services This blog is part of the Eval4Action ‘Walk the Talk’ blog series. The series details six nominated actions for influential evaluation that were contributed during the Walk the Talk drive, held in October 2021. These lessons and reflections inspire greater action for influential evaluation in the Decade of Action. Even before the COVID-19 pandemic struck, South Africa’s education system was facing tremendous challenges in providing quality education in the majority of the country’s schools. As Khulisa has reported in early grade reading evaluation reports, the basic education system in South Africa (Grade 1 to 12) consistently performs poorly on international ratings. In 2016, the Progress in International Reading and Literacy Study (PIRLS) indicated that 78% of South African Grade 4 learners were not reading for meaning. This means that 8 out of 10 South African children do not learn to read for meaning in the early years of school. [1] The COVID-19 pandemic and its ensuing series of lockdowns, school closures, and the necessity to rotate learners and observe strict social distancing protocols have intensified these challenges tremendously. In the wake of the pandemic, evaluating teaching methods and learner outcomes has become more critical than ever to address learning losses and build back better. At the same time, evaluations have become more difficult to conduct during the pandemic. More so than ever before, evaluations must be flexible and adaptable in order to be effective. The circumstances of the pandemic, while challenging, have created unique opportunities for innovation and accelerated the demand for, and immediate use of, evaluation data. Conducting actionable evaluations during a pandemic: What we’ve learned Khulisa and its partners undertook an assignment focused on evaluating early grade reading; creating language benchmarks for learners in two languages; and researching the social-emotional effects of COVID-19 on early grade reading, learning, and teaching. The circumstances of the pandemic, while challenging, have created unique opportunities for innovation and accelerated the demand for, and immediate use of, evaluation data. The bulk of the data collection took place in September 2021, between two devastating waves of COVID-19. Conducting this work during such a difficult time for the South African education system taught us several important lessons about how to make our evaluations accessible and immediately useful to policymakers: While conducting a high-stakes evaluation, it is crucial to build and maintain a strong relationship with the client/partner, in this case, the South African Department of Basic Education (DBE) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The DBE was very interested in the results of these evaluations and played a crucial role in evaluation design, instrument development, and training and selecting fieldworkers. Constant communication and joint planning with DBE led to more trust and buy-in, which increased the chances DBE would adopt the recommendations that emerged from our evaluations. For example, in February 2022, due to the recommendations provided in Khulisa’s research and other studies, the DBE and the Government of South Africa changed COVID-19 regulations to allow learners to return to school full-time and ended rotational learning. Evaluators must be agile and flexible in choosing the data collection methods that are responsive to their client’s needs. While in the proposal-writing stage, since it was uncertain when and how schools would reopen, Khulisa intentionally included a data collection method that did not require physical presence in schools. Khulisa contracted Geopoll to conduct Computer Assisted Telephonic Interviews (CATI) with school management teams, teachers, and parents, which ensured we were able to collect the data we needed amidst the uncertainty of pandemic school closures. Breaking data collection into multiple points within the span of the evaluation helps increase the data’s usability. In our case, we broke the data collection into three phases: 1) collecting data from school leaders; 2) collecting data in schools (whenever we were allowed back in schools); and 3) collecting data from parents. This approach helped us be strategic about which questions to ask when and to whom, avoiding duplication of effort and maximizing our evaluation insights. Our phased data collection approach also allowed the client to receive evidence in a timely fashion and take action in the moments that mattered most. Moving forward This project was implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic, but the lessons learned are useful for all evaluations – not only those conducted during a crisis. Constant engagement with key stakeholders and flexibility in project implementation are important for dealing with unexpected challenges in every project. Thus, it’s essential to build in sufficient time for flexibility when budgeting for the evaluation, and to be intentional about creating opportunities for key stakeholders to be involved in the evaluation process and take action on the results. In the case of the COVID-19 research portion of Khulisa’s project with DBE and USAID, which has now been concluded, our team was successful in accelerating demand for the use of evidence by policy makers. We also learned that, as evaluators, we should always consider innovative ways to be responsive to client needs and provide timely data, which leads to increased interest in the evaluation findings and ultimate use of the evidence. We will be taking these lessons forward in our evaluations in the future. The other component of this project (the language benchmarks and two impact evaluations) are still underway, and we are looking forward to seeing how evidence emerging from this project phase is used for action. [1] Spaull, N. 2017, The unfolding reading crisis: the new PIRLS 2016 results. Available from: https://nicspaull.com/2017/12/05/the-unfolding-reading-crisis-the-new-pirls-2016-results/ Leticia Taimo works at Khulisa Management Services as Senior Associate Evaluator. She has worked on several evaluation, research and assessment projects for a variety of stakeholders (private sector, NGOs, government and international donors). Ms Taimo was awarded the Mandela Rhodes Scholarship in 2013 and the Commonwealth Scholarship in 2014 as recognition of her commitment to social change in the African continent. Follow Leticia on LinkedIn and contact her via ltaimo@khulisa.com. Margaret Roper leads Khulisa’s Education and Development Division, supporting clients such as USAID, UN agencies and the LEGO Foundation. She provides technical expertise and leadership on programme development, monitoring, evaluation and knowledge sharing in education, human trafficking and social development. Ms Roper is a PhD candidate at Lancaster University, United Kingdom (UK). Follow Margaret on LinkedIn. Zamokuhle Thwala is a Junior Project Manager at Khulisa Management Services focusing primarily on providing project and fieldwork management support. Ms Thwala has strong project management skills, data quality assurance, as well as project administration. Prior to joining Khulisa, Ms Thwala worked for the University of the Witwatersrand. She has also worked in other community-based projects, mostly focusing on young people. Follow Zamokuhle on LinkedIn.

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By Ayabulela Dlakavu and Tebogo Fish CLEAR - Anglophone Africa (CLEAR-AA) It is generally accepted that evaluation theory and practice originates from the Global North. These origins mean that evaluation has not escaped neoliberal ideology which dominates the economic, political and social organisation of the developed Global North. Voluntary Organisations for Professional Evaluation (VOPEs) likewise are a Global North invention, tasked with a mandate of advancing evaluation practice as a vehicle of improving development planning, decision-making, policy and programme formulation and implementation. As with evaluation theory and practice, the form and structure of African VOPEs are also based on the Global North model of national evaluation associations or societies. Having studied and worked with VOPEs in Africa, we are of the view that the unique challenges and barriers faced by VOPEs in developing regions and countries warrant the development of a new VOPE model for the Global South. For instance, African countries generally experience widespread development challenges such as high levels of poverty, unemployment, inequality and political instability. The reality of low demand for evaluation and the limited use of monitoring data by public sector institutions minimizes the effectiveness of interventions aimed at addressing these challenges. The limited human and financial resources dedicated to evaluation practice, as well as monitoring for compliance only, are common challenges that impede the use of monitoring and evaluation (M&E) evidence for decision-making. Therefore, a western VOPE model, which has largely emerged from a context of high demand for evaluations from national and subnational governments, adequate evaluation capacity, funding, as well as citizens’ demand for transparency and accountability of government operations, is not suitable for the African context. An enabling environment, therefore, does not exist for the Global North VOPE model that is stimulated by existing evaluation capacity among practitioners, a significant demand for evaluation from the state, civil society and the citizenry. This Afro-centric evaluative paradigm should therefore drive the indigenisation and innovation in M&E practice on the continent. The macro-environment within which African VOPEs operate is as follows: challenges with regards to evaluation capacity, the nascent nature of evaluation practice (evaluation agenda generally driven by bilateral and multilateral donors/development partners), lack of demand for evaluation from governments and national legislatures, the dominance of performance reporting (monitoring), lack of citizen demand for evaluation (although citizens hold the state accountable in certain procedural and substantive democracies). This context is not similar to the enabling environment present in the Global North. It, therefore, follows that African VOPEs need to be structured in a manner that is responsive to the challenges posed by the macro-environment described above. It is the duty of African VOPEs and evaluators to develop Afro-centric research and evaluation methodologies that will enable the adequate participation of all intended African beneficiaries of development intervention irrespective of race, gender, age and class. There is a need for African VOPEs to build a cadre of evaluators that is able to theorise and apply a nuanced evaluation paradigm that seeks to highlight and address issues relating to high unemployment, poverty, inequality and political instability. An Afro-centric evaluation paradigm should not seek to impose neoliberal ideology such as demanding democratisation but should rather advocate for governance that is responsive to the socio-economic challenges described above. An Afro-centric evaluative paradigm should seek to measure the degree to which development interventions in Africa are able to incrementally address poverty, unemployment and inequality which often trigger political instability in the form of civil unrest, unconstitutional changes in government and revolutions. This Afro-centric evaluative paradigm should therefore drive the indigenisation and innovation in M&E practise on the continent. Scientific revolutions are partly induced by methodological innovation that challenges traditional methods of inquiry. It is the duty of African VOPEs and evaluators to develop Afro-centric research and evaluation methodologies that will enable the adequate participation of all intended African beneficiaries of development intervention irrespective of race, gender, age and class. Afro-centric evaluative methodologies should be routed in indigenous modes of knowledge generation such as storytelling. Furthermore, anthropological methodologies that are routed in participant observation, such as ethnography, should be advanced by African VOPEs and affiliated evaluators. African VOPEs and evaluators have a historic mission of not only charting an independent and alternative evaluative path for Africa, but also defining development indicators that are relevant to the African context. Through such a rigorous and strategic repositioning of African VOPEs and evaluators, national VOPEs will be able to influence policymakers and development practitioners due to an enhanced ability to measure and articulate the development needs and demands of African populations. The African Evaluation Association (AfrEA) has gone in the right direction by placing the Made in Africa Evaluation (MAE) approach at the top of Africa’s evaluation discourse agenda. This MAE paradigm is the Afro-centric evaluation approach that we have advocated for in the preceding section above. Through AfrEA’s advocacy, the macro-environment also presents opportunities for the advancement of Afro-centricity in evaluation scholarships and practice on the continent. It is this African character that will also strengthen Afro-centric conceptualisation of what development should look like in an African socio-economic and political context that has proven that neoliberal socio-economic policy and political systems are not necessarily suited to Africa. African VOPEs and evaluators have a historic mission of not only charting an independent and alternative evaluative path for Africa but also defining development indicators that are relevant to the African context. While VOPEs are central to building strong and sustainable Afro-centric national evaluation systems, other evaluation stakeholders such as governments, evaluation capacity development stakeholders, civil society organisations, and bilateral and multilateral donors/development partners must also play a part. While VOPEs are central to building strong and sustainable Afro-centric national evaluation systems, other evaluation stakeholders such as governments, evaluation capacity development stakeholders, civil society organisations, and bilateral and multilateral donors/development partners must also play a part. Evaluation capacity development (ECD) stakeholders such as the Centre for Learning on Evaluation and Results – Anglophone Africa (CLEAR-AA), the Centre for Learning on Evaluation and Results – Francophone Africa (CLEAR-FA) and other ECD stakeholders must provide technical and financial assistance to the endeavour of developing Afro-centric evaluation methodologies, working side-by-side with African VOPEs. It is only through an Afro-centric evaluative lens that African evaluators will be able to accurately capture the extent to which this continent has achieved the 17 Sustainable Development Goals, African Union Agenda 2063 and national development plans and visions. This is the intellectual and professional challenge to which African evaluation practitioners must respond. Ayabulela Dlakavu is an M&E practitioner, analyst of public and foreign policy and political economist based at the Centre for Learning on Evaluation and Results-Anglophone Africa (CLEAR-AA). He is also a PhD candidate and Visiting Research Fellow at the University of Johannesburg. Ayabulela is also a member of the South African Monitoring and Evaluation Association (SAMEA) and African Evaluation Association (AfrEA). Follow Ayabulela on Twitter and LinkedIn. Contact him via ayabulela.dlakavu@wits.ac.za. Tebogo Fish is a researcher working at CLEAR-AA in Johannesburg, South Africa. She holds a Master’s Degree in Research Psychology with research interests in M&E and development issues in Africa. Tebogo is also a member of SAMEA and AfrEA. Follow Tebogo on LinkedIn. Contact her via tebogo.fish1@wits.ac.za.

By Dana Cristina Repede Member, Young and Emerging Evaluators group of the European Evaluation Society (yEES!) This blog is part of the Eval4Action ‘Walk the Talk’ blog series. The series details six nominated actions for influential evaluation that were contributed during the Walk the Talk drive, held in October 2021. These lessons and reflections inspire greater action for influential evaluation in the Decade of Action. Dana Cristina Repede interviewed Virgil Pamfil, the acting President of RoSE (Romanian Society of Evaluators) to unpack the VOPE’s efforts to professionalize evaluation in Romania, notably through developing occupational standards and implementing a code of conduct for evaluators. Professionalizing evaluation Dana: In your video for Eval4Action’s Walk the Talk you speak about RoSE’s endeavor to professionalize evaluation in Romania. What does professionalization of evaluation mean and what are the few steps that RoSE took to that end? Virgil: On one hand, the discussion about the professionalization of evaluation should be put in terms of developing an appropriate enabling environment. This may involve designing, adopting and implementing legislation and/or policies to institutionalize national evaluation systems, but also institutionalizing the profession through different elements such as developing occupational standards, codes of conduct etc. In Romania, the occupational standards for evaluators were thought to make a major contribution to the development of the profession because they participate in the design of a large array of activities within evaluation: performance, workforce design, etc. through standardizing them. Occupational standards have implications not only on productivity, but also on the development of human capital. Therefore, by enabling the basis for the development of educational schemes, such as initial and continuous learning for evaluators, the standards ensure that there is a link between human capital investment and productivity, the market’s needs, etc. In line with this, RoSE has been certified as a training provider since 2013 and delivers training and mentoring to evaluators. On the other hand, professionalization has to be developed at individual level through strengthening the capacities of individuals’ knowledge and skills. In other words, the personal drive of an individual to continuously improve, and to be responsible or accountable for actions taken, is especially significant in the evaluation profession. RoSE considers itself as an active actor that participates in building an evaluation culture because of its two-tier strategy of taking action at institutional and individual level. RoSE has been a catalyst for action through its activity of knowledge sharing and networking. In this respect, the three projects implemented in partnership with VOPEs from North Macedonia, Albania, and Kosovo under the peer to peer programme supported by International Organization for Cooperation in Evaluation (IOCE) is a key milestone in RoSE interventions. Dana: What is RoSE’s roadmap for continuing to professionalize evaluation in the future? Virgil: This is difficult to say because it is still a long way from building an evaluation culture in Romania as the National Policy, Strategy, and Action Plan are still pending. However, as a EU Member State and a beneficiary of EU Funding Instruments, Romania has to comply with a complex regulatory framework that defines requirements to evaluate impacts of the EU programmes. While on one hand, the evaluation is driven by the EU level law, on the other hand, the Member States can make use of their national approaches. It is therefore up to each country to support the evaluators’ job market and profession in accordance with market needs. In Romania, there is an increasing need for evaluators to cover various areas of interventions in sustainable development to measure the achievement and performance of policies, programmes and projects. However, not having specific evaluators profiles that cover these areas included in the Code of Occupations prevents Romanian evaluators from participating in certain calls for experts as they would not comply with the requirements. Dana: Is evaluation in Romania recognized as an established profession (shared purpose, common identity, common agreement of the practitioners on the responsibilities and characteristics of the profession)? Virgil: More or less! In Romania evaluation is very much considered as a cross-cutting occupation. The evaluators come from different fields of expertise. Therefore, they are assigned in most cases on a short-term basis to do a job that complies with their previous work records. It is like the problem with the chicken and the egg – who was first? Without having specific previous working experience an applicant evaluator won’t win the assignment, and if they don’t get assignments an evaluator cannot gain working experience. The academic and continuing education opportunities for evaluators are leading to higher competition and fewer roles. A framework for defining occupational standards Dana: How do you do an Occupational Standard framework for the field of evaluation? Please share your experience and recommendations. Virgil: In Romania, the process of establishing the Occupational Standards was rather long because of the many stages that had to be followed in accordance with the law and the standard procedure enforced by the Romanian Authority of Qualifications. It took about one year, and fortunately it was fast-tracked thanks to RoSE’s internal expertise for drafting occupational standards. The first step was to collect data on the occupation and process them under an occupational analysis in order to convince the national authorities of the importance of our action. Once the occupational analysis was endorsed, the next step was to identify the necessary key competencies structured by elements of competence, knowledge, skills, and behaviours, working contexts, and the range of variables. Afterwards, the Draft Occupational Standard was subject to audit and assessment by several authorities, such as the Government's Sectoral Committee and the National Authority of Qualifications. Finally, after about 12 months of work, in 2012, the Occupational Standard was published online by the National Register of Qualifications, as a reference for education and certification of competencies for project evaluators. Dana: Which are the evaluator competencies included in the Occupational Standard for Project Evaluators (OSPE)? Virgil: These were structured into three categories, namely: key competencies, competencies that cover related occupations and specific competencies. There are five specific competence units as follows: individual preparation for evaluation, organization of evaluation process, project evaluation, validation of evaluation results and provision of technical assistance for selecting the projects. Each competence unit has set the level of responsibility and autonomy, and it is structured by elements of competence, criteria for achievement of the associated results and tasks. They also provide specific information on the working conditions, range of variables and compulsory knowledge. It is worth highlighting that the OSPE designed by RoSE refers to evaluators of projects, due to limitations in the Code of Occupations of Romania (COR), which does not include the positions of Evaluator of Programmes and Evaluator of Policies. Even though it is the Government’s responsibility to include these occupations in the COR, there is a lack of awareness about the different profiles of evaluation professionals. With effective lobbying, the occupational framework could be diversified with a larger array of evaluators profiles. Code of professional conduct Dana: Why is a Code of Professional Conduct important for the evaluation profession? Virgil: In Romania, when selecting a person to provide evaluation services, only a statement of no conflict is requested. Unfortunately, it does not include rules about behaviours, values, and decision-making skills. Therefore, RoSE as a professional organization has decided to define its own Code of Professional Conduct to set standards and expectations for its members. We consider that the Code of Conduct of evaluators is a mandatory addition to the competency framework. Dana: How difficult is it in Romania for an evaluator to adhere to the Code of Professional Conduct? Virgil: There is no obligation in Romania for an evaluator to adhere to a Code of Professional Conduct. As far as I know, no other organization formally requires the evaluators to adhere to a Code of Conduct, but only to sign a statement of no conflict of interest. As a professional VOPE, RoSE’s priority was to define its professional culture quickly, to set standards and expectations to enable its customers and partners to know its values,and to create a level of transparency for a healthy business relationship. Evaluation of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Dana: How can the professionalization of evaluation be beneficial in the national review system of SDGs? Virgil: It is indisputable that professionalization of evaluation is beneficial and it is a must for the national review system of SDGs. Two elements are necessary for an effective SDG implementation and monitoring: good coordination at the level of government because the process is expected to be country-led evaluation work, and a multi-level perspective with functional interlinkages and coordination between all actors. The importance of evaluation in the process is that it generates evidence and evidence can contribute to strategies to operationalize the SDGs and inform policy and management decisions. However, adequate evaluation capacity is needed to ensure the quality of measuring SDG targets. This means that each country, and Romania in particular, must develop an effective professional framework for evaluators with clear profiles that cover the entire Policy Intervention Level (policy, programme, project, activity) at the government and civil society levels. Dana Cristina Repede has a Masters in Monitoring and Evaluation from the University of Saarland and Masters in Sociology from the Université Libré de Bruxelles. Currently she works as an M&E consultant with Ann-Murray Brown consultancy. Dana has worked for the European Commission holding various positions such as Programme Manager, Policy Officer and External Auditor. Follow Dana on LinkedIn and contact her via derepede@gmail.com. Virgil Pamfil has 30+ years of experience in the area of public administration and civil service reform, socio-economic development, education, democracy and rule of law, capacity building, decentralization and governance programmes. With a master’s degree in economics, postgraduate studies and certifications in project management, he has been assigned as a key expert in projects in various countries. In 2015 Virgil received an IOCE Regional Award for his contributions to evaluation in Europe. Follow Virgil on LinkedIn and contact him via vpamfil@evaluatoriasociati.ro.

By Tessie Tzavaras Catsambas Founder and CEO/CFO, EnCompass LLC This blog is part of the Eval4Action ‘Walk the Talk’ blog series. The series details six nominated actions for influential evaluation that were contributed during the Walk the Talk drive, held in October 2021. These lessons and reflections inspire greater action for influential evaluation in the Decade of Action. When EvalYouth Global Network, Global Parliamentarians Forum for Evaluation and the UNFPA Evaluation Office announced the Eval4Action campaign, the EnCompass team immediately signed on for three reasons: Evaluation. We believe in the role of evaluation in promoting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and leaving no one behind. As Marco Segone (Director, UNFPA Evaluation Office) said in the introductory video for Eval4Action, evaluation is well-positioned to have “the highest multiplier effect on sustainable development.” We agree, as evidenced in EnCompass’ mission: to support organizations through evidence, engagement, and learning to harness their strengths and diversity for sustainable positive impact. Values. Our values of celebrating diversity and co-creation align well with Eval4Action’s values of inclusion and partnership. The focus on action resonates with us as an inclusive invitation to every person and organization to contribute based on their strengths. Youth. Sustainable change must involve young people, because they should have a role in shaping the future that belongs to them and future generations. They bring energy, passion, ideas, confidence, and impatience. Participating in the Eval4Action campaign gave EnCompass the opportunity to focus action on these important values, to see the link between actions already taking place across our company, and to find new ways to support the SDGs. Let me share briefly what we learned through our participation in the Eval4Action campaign: Lesson 1: An openness to younger people opens the mind, invites curiosity, and energizes communities. Young people are invested in the future in a more immediate way than those of us who have been around for a while. Things that older people had to unlearn and or learn later in life, young people know, because they grew up with them. They have instincts informed by that knowledge and fresh ways of seeing possibilities. In action: Hosting a GEDI scholar. For a long time, we hoped to get to a place where we could host a scholar from the American Evaluation Association’s Graduate Evaluation Diversity Initiative (GEDI). In 2020, we were able to host our first GEDI scholar, and hope to continue to be a participating host organization for the programme in the future. Our excitement when we welcomed our first GEDI intern was palpable and the experience was rewarding for all of us. Participating in the Eval4Action campaign gave EnCompass the opportunity to focus action on these important values, to see the link between actions already taking place across our company, and to find new ways to support the SDGs. Lesson 2: Action builds confidence and renews commitment. You can surprise yourself with what your own action can achieve, especially when others are engaging in similar action. You can be inspired by yourself and your colleagues and be optimistic about what is possible, and you can take action to bring that possibility to life. In action: Developing the Gender Transformative Design and Evaluation Learning Programme. EnCompass has been working in gender since the earlier days of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, and conducted some of the earliest gender-based violence (GBV) research under the United States Agency for International Development’s AIDSTAR One Project. Since then, we have refined and integrated new approaches and tools such as an Appreciative Gender Assessment, the Gender Integration Continuum, the Toolkit for GBV Integration in the Transport Sector, and many others. Inspired by the Eval4Action campaign, we decided to launch a new online learning programme in the EnCompass Learning Center (ELC) that brings together some of the things we have learned over the years. This was harder to organize than you would think; with staff members working all over the world, we had to put in extra effort to make people available for pulling this course together. The result has been rewarding, both because of our own learning, and because of the enthusiastic response by the broader learning community. We have now set new goals for ourselves to expand our gender programme with additional modules such as gender budgeting, gender indicators, integrating LGBTIQ+ communities, and intersectionality with race and ethnicity. Being part of the Eval4Action campaign gave us a lift in these efforts, knowing we are not alone, and fired us up by the shared intensity of commitment to a vision where no one is left behind and our planet is protected and cherished for future generations. Lesson 3: Focusing on and engaging in action becomes a mindset. The focus for action invited participants to turn their good intentions into reality, showing us that we can each contribute toward the SDGs. The motivation and confidence that is built from focused and intentional action develops a new muscle in the brain and the way we approach our work. Yes, we were intentional before, but now, we have become more so. The SDGs offer standards through which we review our broader success and progress, and they call us to tackle complex international development questions in new ways. As a company, we are discussing how to move more effectively toward racial and ethnic equity, how to build more equity and mutuality in our relationships with partners in the countries where we work, and how to enact inclusion inside our company and with our clients’ communities. Being part of the Eval4Action campaign gave us a lift in these efforts, knowing we are not alone, and fired us up by the shared intensity of commitment to a vision where no one is left behind and our planet is protected and cherished for future generations. In action: Volunteering time to support the Eval4Action launch and offering free slots to EvalYouth in ELC classes. The COVID-19 pandemic had just hit when Eval4Action launched, so when in-person regional launches became impossible, EnCompass enthusiastically agreed to host and emcee the online launches. It ended up being a bigger endeavor than anticipated because of the enthusiasm generated by the campaign in every region! For our staff, participating in Eval4Action was one of the most exciting things we were doing, and colleagues eagerly awaited news of each new launch. For those most closely involved in the regional launches, the most exciting part was working closely with EvalYouth leaders in different regions. These EvalYouth leaders brought an unrestrained vision of what was possible, and were undaunted by obstacles. For example, when we wanted to have language interpretation, EvalYouth leaders found volunteers among themselves; they organized group facilitators and preparation meetings, created communication material in different languages, and found quick avenues to disseminate the news. Inspired by these young leaders, EnCompass decided to offer a series of free spots in ELC classes when the regional launches ended, so we could do our small part in supporting this incredible, awesome network called EvalYouth. So, Eval4Action colleagues, what’s next? We have no doubt that EvalYouth will lead the way, and EnCompass is ready to be by their side. Tessie Catsambas has 30 years of experience in planning, evaluation and organizational development. She was the 2019 president of the American Evaluation Association. She is an innovator in appreciative evaluation methods, authored the first published research on appreciative evaluation (Journal for International Health Care Quality, Volume 14, Supplement I, December 2002), and co-authored Reframing Evaluation Through Appreciative Inquiry (Sage Publications 2006). Follow Tessie on Twitter and contact her via tcatsambas@encompassworld.com.

Read updates on the campaign activities and news from partners around the world. If you would like to receive the newsletter directly in your inbox, sign up to receive Eval4Action updates here. As an individual advocate or a partner network, if you have news or information to share with the Eval4Action community, please write to contact@eval4action.org.

Read updates on the campaign activities and news from partners around the world. If you would like to receive the newsletter directly in your inbox, sign up to receive Eval4Action updates here. As an individual advocate or a partner network, if you have news or information to share with the Eval4Action community, please write to contact@eval4action.org.

To step up capacities and networks on evaluation communications, Eval4Action with regional VOPEs and EvalYouth regional chapters, have launched volunteer-driven communication hubs in all seven regions. The hubs comprise of nearly 50 volunteers, with young and emerging evaluators in the lead. The regional communication hubs will provide communication and outreach support to Eval4Action’s global advocacy initiatives. They will also provide communication support to the regional partners to implement the regional evaluation action plan and expand evaluation advocacy at regional, national and grass-root levels. The regional communication hubs were launched following the success of the pilot Asia Pacific Communications (APC) Hub, established in 2020. The APC Hub was initiated by the Asia Pacific Evaluation Association in the context of the Eval4Action campaign, to support regional communication and outreach on influential evaluation. A global meeting to kick off the regional communication hubs took place on 10 March 2022. A communications training for the hubs, based on a needs assessment survey, took place on 25 April 2022. These efforts will help build greater communication capacities among regional evaluation networks and Eval4Action partners, to increase strategic communication, mobilization and advocacy for national evaluation capacities. For further information on the hubs, write to contact@eval4action.org.

Read updates on the campaign activities and news from partners around the world. If you would like to receive the newsletter directly in your inbox, sign up to receive Eval4Action updates here. As an individual advocate or a partner network, if you have news or information to share with the Eval4Action community, please write to contact@eval4action.org.

Read updates on the campaign activities and news from partners around the world. If you would like to receive the newsletter directly in your inbox, sign up to receive Eval4Action updates here. As an individual advocate or a partner network, if you have news or information to share with the Eval4Action community, please write to contact@eval4action.org.

Read updates on the campaign activities and news from partners around the world. If you would like to receive the newsletter directly in your inbox, sign up to receive Eval4Action updates here. As an individual advocate or a partner network, if you have news or information to share with the Eval4Action community, please write to contact@eval4action.org.

Read updates on the campaign activities and news from partners around the world. If you would like to receive the newsletter directly in your inbox, sign up to receive Eval4Action updates here. As an individual advocate or a partner network, if you have news or information to share with the Eval4Action community, please write to contact@eval4action.org.

Read updates on the campaign activities and news from partners around the world. If you would like to receive the newsletter directly in your inbox, sign up to receive Eval4Action updates here. As an individual advocate or a partner network, if you have news or information to share with the Eval4Action community, please write to contact@eval4action.org.

The year-end newsletter showcases Eval4Action's progress and achievements in 2021. If you would like to receive the newsletter directly in your inbox, sign up to receive Eval4Action updates here. As an individual advocate or a partner network, if you have news or information to share with the Eval4Action community, please write to contact@eval4action.org.

The Asia Pacific Regional Evaluation Strategy launched by Asia Pacific Evaluation Association, EvalYouth Asia and the Parliamentarians Forum for Development Evaluation – South Asia is implementing eight themes led by volunteers. The eight themes are focused on professionalization of evaluation, partnership, community ownership, strengthening evaluation associations, capacity building of young and emerging evaluators, engaging parliamentarians, promoting national evaluation policies and systems and use of evaluation for delivery of the Sustainable Development Goals. Four thematic groups involved with the strategy implementation have released resource materials and a survey report that will help to further professionalize evaluation and promote national evaluation policies and systems. These resource materials were released as part of the Eval4Action Walk The Talk video drive, as a concrete action to advance influential evaluation. The resource materials are available for free use. Professionalization of evaluation Competency framework for evaluators Pathway for assessment of competencies of evaluators Career mentor guide: Case of career development in monitoring and evaluation Using evaluation to report on the SDGs A Guide: Use of evaluation for SDG monitoring and reporting Promoting national evaluation policies and systems Study on the status of national evaluation policies and systems in the Asia Pacific 2021 For further details, please contact apea.coordinator@gmail.com.

The third Eval4Action regional consultation will take place in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) on 1 October 2020 at 8 am (Mexico City), 10 am (Buenos Aires) and 9 am EDT. The interactive event is organized by the Monitoring, Evaluation and Systematization Network of Latin America and the Caribbean (ReLAC), EvalYouth LAC, UNFPA LACRO and FOCELAC. The event also marks the launch of the Eval4Action campaign in LAC, following which the campaign partners will drive a participatory process to create a shared regional evaluation agenda to accelerate the achievement of SDGs in the region. The speakers at the regional consultation include Marco Segone (Director, UNFPA Evaluation Office), Josette Arevalo (EvalYouth, Vice Chair), Silvia Salinas (ReLAC Coordinator, IOCE President), Florita Azofeifa (Evaluation Manager, MIDEPLAN) and Harold Robinson (Regional Director, UNFPA LAC). UPDATE: Access the consultation report (En, Sp), a short article (En, Sp, Pt), infographic on the consultation (En, Sp, Pt) and its deliberations (En, Sp, Pt). The regional consultation recording is available here. For any questions, please email evalyouthlac@gmail.com

Read updates on the campaign activities and news from partners around the world. If you would like to receive the newsletter directly in your inbox, sign up to receive Eval4Action updates here. As an individual advocate or a partner network, if you have news or information to share with the Eval4Action community, please write to contact@eval4action.org.

Read updates on the campaign activities and news from partners around the world. If you would like to receive the newsletter directly in your inbox, sign up to receive Eval4Action updates here. As an individual advocate or a partner network, if you have news or information to share with the Eval4Action community, please write to contact@eval4action.org.