EvalPartners share International Year of Evaluation updates, insights on USAID partnerships with local evaluators

On June 25, USAID's Bureau of Policy, Planning and Learning Office of Learning, Evaluation and Research (PPL/LER) hosted a morning coffee break and conversation with four global leaders in evaluation promotion and professionalization. Our guests were Jennifer Bisgard, co-founder and principal of Khulisa Management Services based in Johannesburg, South Africa, and Board Member of the International Organization for Cooperation in Evaluation (IOCE); Mark Bardini, Senior VI for M&E and U.S. Operations for Khulisa; Jim Rugh, a senior evaluation expert and Coordinator of the EvalPartners International Initiative; and Tessie Catsambas, President of EnCompass LLC.

Our guests took time from planning the EvalYear global forum, to be held in November, to lead a lively conversation on IOCE work and EvalPartners. Strengthening evaluation capacities around the world and USAID’s contributions to the effort were discussed, in addition to supporting the development of Voluntary Organizations for Professional Evaluation (VOPEs), events for the International Year of Evaluation (EvalYear 2015), and updates on broader evaluation partnerships, networks and initiatives.

Among the many updates and resources they highlighted:

• Over the course of this International Year of Evaluation, EvalPartners has been gathering messages from evaluation partners and professionals around the world. One of the strongest messages coming through the process is the need to support greater professionalization of the field.
• The EvalPartners 2nd Global Forum will be held from 23th to 25th November in Kathmandu in the context of Global Evaluation Week. The Global Forum will be attended by VOPE leaders, parliamentarians, government officials, UN agencies, international organizations and donors, coming together to commemorate the International Year of Evaluation and launch the 2016-2020 Global Evaluation Agenda.
• The recently formed Evaluation Gender Network convenes organizations committed to using and promoting gender equity-focused evaluation to influence policy.
• EvalYouth was recently formed to create pathways into the evaluation profession, mentorship opportunities, and an index of evaluation capacity support mechanisms in individual countries.
• EvalPartners and its partners, including USAID, have produced the VOPE Advocacy Toolkit available to increase users’ understanding of advocacy and how to increase demand for evaluation. The toolkit also provides guidance for developing operational strategies to promote demand for evaluation services. The VOPE Institutional Toolkit provides free tools to help country evaluators set up their own professional organizations, with sites in French and Spanish planned to be launched soon. These tools complement IOCE grants that seek to strengthen and empower existing VOPEs.
• IOCE recently completed their annual Evaluation of EvalPartners report and released the EvalPartners and IOCE 2015 Update, with more information on these and many other developments.

The rich and wide-ranging conversation that followed gave rise to several penetrating questions for our guest speakers. Sheila Zacarias, a visiting PPL FSN Fellow from USAID/Mozambique, highlighted the absence of a VOPE in the country and difficulties she had observed in bringing the mission and local evaluators together. In response, the informal panel acknowledged the challenges inherent in the process of setting up a VOPE, not least of which the need for a safe environment for evaluators to speak their minds in often limiting political and institutional environments – a function often filled by regional conferences. Also highlighted was the need for a champion to bring people together, break down barriers of distrust and foster collaboration among evaluators who often find themselves in competition with one another. It was noted that UNICEF has often played this facilitative role among evaluators at the national level, but USAID missions could consider stepping up to take on this role as well.

In light of USAID’s commitment to increasing direct engagement with local partners, Christine MacAulay, the M&E POC for the Middle East Bureau, asked the EvalPartners team for their insights on how USAID can better partner with VOPEs and individual local evaluators. Her question prompted an impassioned response from the guests, advocating for greater flexibility, sensitivity to local context and strategic engagement on the part of USAID missions looking to utilize in-country evaluation talent and resources. The EvalPartners highlighted three key, actionable recommendations for USAID Missions:

·     Make evaluation TORs/SOWs more local evaluator-friendly. Evaluation TORs/SOWs are often written to assume a US-based evaluator, including terms such as required full-time, short term commitments; a six-day work week; and the implicit expectation that the evaluator will have no other commitments for the duration of the contract. These conditions discourage local evaluators from even bidding on USAID evaluation work in the first place. Important steps Missions can take include planning ahead to allow more time for the evaluation to be completed, allowing more scheduling flexibility in the statement of work, and recognizing that for local evaluators, one USAID contract is just one piece of their larger, ongoing work schedule and portfolio.

·     Leverage evaluation contracts as opportunities to support local capacity. Prioritize partnership by making capacity development for the evaluating organization(s) part of the evaluation TOR; doing so across a Mission’s portfolio could provide a promising approach to strategically enhancing the capacity of local evaluation networks. Involve local evaluators in the design and analysis of findings, not just data collection.

·     Establish and cultivate longer-term relationships with VOPEs. Missions can leverage ongoing partnerships with VOPEs in their countries and regions both to identify opportunities to provide strategic, dedicated support to networks of local evaluators, and to reach potential USAID program evaluators in a way that reinforces and strengthens participation in the network.

The conversation ended with a call to action for USAID to become a more visible presence in the EvalPartners gatherings and social media. Already on the horizon, USAID is sponsoring the next issue of the Journal of the African Evaluation Association, which will focus on health evaluation.

You can find and connect to the VOPE in your country or region by visiting www.ioce.net in “VOPE Resources.” If a VOPE is not present in your country, consider using the VOPE Toolkit to establish one.