The conclave is an initiative of CoE ( Community of Evaluators) a group of evaluators from South Asia, working together to strengthen the field of evaluation . Community of Evaluators (COE) in South Asia has been constituted in October 2008 as part of a Project titled "Advancing Evaluation Theory and Practices in South Asia – “Building a Community of Experts”. The Community presently has 36 members from South Asian Countries namely Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. The Goal of the CoE is – “to promote and enhance the quality of the theory and practice of evaluation in South Asia and to contribute to the same, particularly from a South Asian perspective, globally.
What is a Conclave and what will it look like? A “conclave” is an old word that means ‘meeting’ or ‘coming together’. It also means gathering representatives to share information in a smaller group and then take it back. This is one of the things that will happen at the conclave. The event will bring together thought leaders from different groups, disciplines, and communities to share ideas to then take back to their "home" group. The idea is to build bridges of theory, practice, and ideas across groups and to potentially form new ones. Core to the event will be parallel small group workshops on a range of themes; most of them lead by teams of global and South Asian thought leaders. Some of the groups will be ideas focussed and others will be practice focused or oriented around a particular evaluation initiative. The series of plenary events will bring the small groups together and connect the workshops into a larger set of ideas.
Evaluation has lead to deeper insights into development processes, improving programs and informing policy. But huge gaps remain:
* Evaluation remains limited to a small number of “experts”
* The users of evaluation and those who set evaluation questions are too narrow
* Evaluation is often separate from implementation or not used
* There are few spaces for evaluators to share, critique, and improve evaluation practice
* Evaluation design is often limited (rather than supported) by methods
* Inadequate rigor and quality remain a persistent gap.
Despite, or perhaps because of, these challenges the demand for better and more evaluation, and more thoughtful use of evaluation is growing. Is the field of evaluation ready to meet the challenge and opportunities that these new demands are generating?
What is the objective of the conclave?
A new vision is emerging of how evaluation can serve development. The questions are changing, from: “what was the outcome of this project?” to “what needs to happen to bring about deeper change in societies and system?” For evaluation to keep up with such fundamental shifts in questions: methodologies must become more adaptable and rigorous; a vibrant experimenting evaluation community must be constantly engaging and with related fields of research, theory, and developing and fostering indigenous evaluation innovation and leadership; and, the growing, diverse, and experimenting evaluation community must share emergent practice, and embrace and create space for critique, debate, and analysis.
The Evaluation Conclave is designed to contribute to this vision.
Where and when will the conclave happen?
The first Conclavewill be held in New Delhi, India October 25-29th 2010 and will become a regular event on the global evaluation calendar. The conclave will bring together sector experts, leading practitioners, thought leaders and development professionals from across the globe. This event will be the first-of-its-kind in South Asia, and perhaps globally.
What’s the theme?
The theme of the first conclave is Making Evaluation Matter. The theme encompasses an approach to evaluation that starts with relevance and context and with a broad understanding of who evaluation should serve (e.g. citizens as well as the development and policy sectors), focuses attention on organizations and systems involved in evaluation, and calls for deeper historical and political analysis of the institutions or rules of the game in which evaluation resides. The theme also reflects an attempt to move away from the methodological polarization currently characterizing the field of evaluation. The theme is methodology neutral, though the need for more innovation in mixed-methods approaches is recognized and innovations in this arena will be highlighted in the conclave. Rather than starting from methods, the conclave will examine the broader issues of evaluation use and questions, and the ways the experimenting evaluation community is, or should begin, addressing those questions through methodological innovation.
Who should come?
The event will attract global thinkers engaged in innovative evaluation research, theorizing, or practice who seek opportunities to push their thinking in new directions and are interested in applying their ideas in a South Asian context. It will also include leading development theorists, thinkers, activists and policy makers from South Asia to embed discussions in current development issues and contexts that evaluation must respond to. The event will be a space to engage with, and test knowledge. The event will target innovators and practitioners (including those focused on particular methodological approaches) who are actively seeking ways to connect their work to, and draw from, work happening in other domains. The event is a space for critical and engaged thinkers to raise and engage in nuanced questions on evaluation and deepen evaluation theory and practice. Participants should be ready to engage, critique, and bring ideas to the table (whether from theory or practice). The conclave will include 250-300 leaders from the global development and evaluation community, with up to 100 from outside of South Asia.
