Whose reality counts in evaluation? Building forward better with people-centered and adaptive evaluations

This event draws on two key and interrelated topics that emerged over the last year in the knowledge sharing among members of the EvalForward Community of Practice:

1. Use of community feedback for adaptive programming. The ongoing pandemic has brought to the fore the importance of flexibility and adaptability of development and emergency interventions. Rapid evaluation and assessments and real-time approaches could play the role of collecting community feedback and providing inputs for adapting interventions to emerging needs of population. These evaluations have opportunities as well as methodological challenges.

2. Methods for enabling community participation and feedback in times of COVID. The pandemic has uncovered new challenges in reaching out to target groups and taking their perspectives into account in a representative manner in evaluations. This is especially true for marginalized groups, which are likely to be the ones most affected by the impacts of shocks such as pandemics and may also be residing in geographically remote locations. Vulnerabilities of groups such as indigenous people, women, youth, landless are exacerbated in times of shocks. It is thus important to ensure that data collection methods are designed to hear the voices of communities in evaluations, especially when evaluations are undertaken in the context of COVID.

In discussing these two topics, the event will focus in particular on examples of some ways in which adaptive programming and inclusive evaluations have been undertaken. Participants will also be able to share and put forward their perspectives and experiences. The sessions will thus be interactive and provide a forum for exchange of experiences and will be moderated by experienced development professionals. The sessions will be followed by a wrap up to bring together multiple lines of thought emerging from the discussions.

AGENDA

Opening remarks – Mr Indran Naidoo, Director, Independent Office of Evaluation, IFAD
Community-led approaches for adaptive responses and recovery - Johanna Pennarz, Senior Evaluation Officer, IFAD and Julie Thoulouzan, Senior Evaluation Officer, WFP

Part 1: Use of community feedback for adaptive programming
Facilitated by Jennifer Mutua, Evaluation Society of Kenya
- Highlights from the rapid evaluation of Covid impact in mountain areas – Ms Malika Bonfour president Association Ayur pour le Développement de la femme Rurale, Morocco
- Highlights from the rapid assessment of needs of migrant people – Ms Nayely Almanza Sustainable Landscapes Specialist, Rainforest Alliance Mexico.
- Discussion with participants

Part 2: Methods for enabling community participation and feedback in times of COVID Facilitated by Dee Jupp, Independent Social Development Consultant & Technical Advisor
- Highlights from the participatory outcome evaluation - Binod Chapagain, Monitoring and Evaluation Advisor, USAID Green Invest Asia, Pact, Thailand
- Highlights from the evaluation of CDD in Papua and West Papua - Prashanth Kotturi, Evaluation Officer, IFAD
- Discussion with participants

Plenary and Conclusions by Jennifer Mutua and Dee Jupp