Evaluation Conclave 2022

Evaluation stares at new challenges in the rapidly changing milieu. It is all the more relevant now to keep the larger questions of ‘equity’ and ‘transformation’ in focus while we deal with evaluation in the challenging times. The COVID-19 pandemic has brought to the fore the challenges facing evaluations in the ‘new normal’ times. Whilst innovations and partnerships in evaluations are critical to address the complex socio-economic issues, the restrictions and the emergence of virtual mode imposed by the pandemic have challenged the entire process of evaluations in a different milieu. In one of the most populous regions of the world with various social cleavages such as caste, class, gender, and ethnicity, it is imperative to have innovative evaluation approaches that address the challenges in the times of crises to enable us to understand how various population groups react to evaluations, and how they might be effectively engaged in difficult times, particularly as pandemics prevent or restrict community interactions.

Notwithstanding the pandemic (or other crises), the evolving knowledge and experiences are important to improve the ability to adapt the commissioners, rights holders and duty bearers to be effectively engaged in the processes of evaluation. We continue to struggle to make our evaluations accessible and usable to make decisions, and to ensure genuine participation of all stakeholders to make use of evaluations for better performance. We continue to explore the role of local wisdom in evaluation practice and how it could address people’s contextual and cultural realities.

The Evaluation Conclave 2022 on the theme, EQUITY AND TRANSFORMATION: Evaluation in Challenging Times will explore the experiences from evaluations undertaken under difficult conditions, and will examine novel techniques and tools used by the evaluators. What are the specific challenges that have come up, and what are the approaches that provided the best solutions? The Evaluation Conclave 2022 will be a forum for evaluation practitioners, commissioners of evaluation, academicians, and decision-makers to share their knowledge on effective, innovative and collaborative processes that have been used to enhance the value of evaluation in promoting equity and transmission at all levels, particularly during the pandemic and which may be useful for future crises times.

Evaluation Conclaves

Evaluation Conclaves provide opportunities for knowledge building and sharing, capacity development, networking, advocacy, and developing protocols and standards for evaluation in South Asia. It is the flagship biennial event of the Community of Evaluators-South Asia, and is held in collaboration with national evaluation organisations (VOPEs) and the Government agency mandated with evaluation functions. The Evaluation Conclave 2022 will be the fifth Conclave (originally planned as a physical event in 2020 in Dhaka, Bangladesh); the first was held in India (2010), second (2013) and third (2015) in Nepal, and the fourth in Bhutan (2017). The Conclaves 2015 and 2017 attracted 327 and 234 participants, respectively, from around the world.

The Community of Evaluators – South Asia (CoE-SA) is pleased to announce the 5th Evaluation Conclave (Conclave 2022) to be held from 12 – 14 October, 2022 (both days inclusive). It is planned as a hybrid event with the following structure.

Online (available for all participants) & Physical (hosting countries) events (4.5 h)

Date	Time (IST)	Hosting Country/Location
12 October 2022	14 00 – 18 30	Delhi, INDIA
13 October 2022	09 00 – 13 30	Kathmandu, NEPAL
13 October 2022	14 00 – 18 30	Dhaka, BANGLADESH
14 October 2022	09 00 – 13 30	Thimphu, BHUTAN
14 October 2022	14 00 – 19 00	Colombo, SRI LANKA

Each session will be comprised of:

• Keynote presentation (physical)
• Panel discussions (either preformed panels by interested parties or Secretariat-formed panels)

Only for those in the hosting countries

Date	Time (IST)	Hosting Country/Location
12 October 2022	09 00 – 13 30	Delhi, INDIA
13 October 2022	14 00 – 18 30	Kathmandu, NEPAL
13 October 2022	09 00 – 13 30	Dhaka, BANGLADESH
14 October 2022	14 00 – 18 30	Thimphu, BHUTAN
14 October 2022	09 00 – 13 30	Colombo, SRI LANKA

Conclave 2022 will focus largely to demonstrate the importance of evaluations in development, equity and transformation and more so in the time of crises. The Conclave 2022 is planned to cover several strands with a focus on crises-time evaluations and innovations and challenges:

1. Evaluations in the time of crises;
2. Evaluation for transformative change
3. Fostering governance, accountability, credibility and transparency
4. Evaluation of public policies;
5. Gender, equity and inclusivity

The event offers sponsors and partners an opportunity to support the Conclave 2022 in a number of ways:

• Sponsoring a skills development workshop (physical event), including providing resource persons;
• Sponsoring Key Presentations (physical and online)
• Sponsoring a Panel discussion with speakers (online);
• Bursaries to support the participation of emerging and/or professional evaluators in the Conclave
• General sponsorship towards the conduct of the Conclave.

This is a preliminary notification, and further details will appear soon on the website communityofevaluators.org. In the meantime, you are most welcome to contact Dr. Ranjith Mahindapala, Conclave Director, CoE-SA by email at COESA.Conclave2022@gmail.com for any queries.

Please download the following form and send us the filled-up one with related papers.