NECD has become a global agenda with strong support for this from the UN system. UNDP conducts NEC conference every year. IOCE/EvalPartners support is also quite substantial specially in promoting VOPEs. With the commencement of SDG, NECD agenda has been further pronounced. Countries have started doing something on NEC. When we say NEC, what do we mean? What is its image? What are its organs?
The global instruments gives 4 elements in NEC: Institutional capacity, individual capacity, enabling environment and linkages among them. When we say national, it is clear that it is not only the government but government is the central pillar together with civil society, private and VOPEs. They should not be left behind.
The focus now is on developing national evaluation capacity that contributes to the better implementation of the SDGs so that we can see the kind of the ideal world we want by 2030 where no one is poor, no one is hunger, malnourished, illiterate and everyone enjoys the fruit of the development equally while at the same time protecting the planet. The notion of leaving no one behind is very challenging, because who are left over so far by development are very hard to reach people who are in multiple exclusion. By race, by ethnicity, caste, geographical location, infrastructure, physical disability, sex and wealth, etc
When we talk of national evaluation capacity, we are basically referring to a system of developing national evaluation capacity that enhances the process of “leaving no one behind”. The evaluation findings, conclusion and recommendations from the supply side stakeholders provide credible information for demand side stakeholders to make evidence-based decision on inclusive policies, plans and programmes. This means that capacity of both demand side and supply side stakeholders needs to be enhanced.
Most challenging in this process is the data. When we tried to develop national evaluation plan in Nepal we found the data as one of the major issues. Other issues were related to evaluative culture, enabling environment, individual and institutional capacity, collaboration, decision-making approach/ use of evaluation evidence.
In Nepal different stakeholders came together in developing NEC Plan, also this togetherness has been going on so far because of the champions in different sectors such as the government, UN, VOPE, and Parliament. Now I am seeing it challenging to the sustained continuation. Because, the champions from these sectors maybe in different positions as is the usual case.
Like the SDGs which are largely interconnected, the connectivity between the demand side and supply side stakeholders is also equally important. We have started a small work in Nepal where stakeholders from demand side and supply side plan evaluation program jointly, revisit the plan together, endorse the plan cooperatively and review the implementation mutually.
We had government, parliamentarians, donor community, UN and I/NGOs as the demand side stakeholders. Likewise, supply side stakeholders were VOPEs, academia, consulting firms and EvalNetwork.
Let me say a bit about how the stakeholders worked together. First, the champions from different stakeholders (VOPE, Govt, UN and Parliamentarians) formed a core group. They decided to develop a five year evaluation action plan with participation of a wide range of stakeholders. They organised a 3-day workshop where above 55 persons participated whole period. The number in inauguration was 95. The inauguration was done by the Speaker of the Legislative Parliament. Others who made commitment to support evaluation plan included the Chief/whips of major political parties, Chairperson of the Good Governance and Monitoring Committee in Parliament, UN resident representative, IOCE rep (Dorothy), EvalPartner (Asela), in addition to the full time participants.
The participants identified major issues in evaluation and develop a draft plan to address the issues. The plan had five major component: Enabling environment, capacity Development, Networking and Coordination, Planned evaluation and SDG Monitoring, and Documentation, Dissemination and USE of Evaluation. There are several activities within each component and lead and support agencies are identified for each activity. The participants also selected a core group team to refine the draft plan. The core group team also came from different stakeholder types including Government, VOPE and UN. The core group refined the plan and brought to a national EvalNet meet. Here, the plan was further refined with resource commitment. The plan was then endorsed by the Government as a national document.
As per the divided roles and responsibility, the plan is being implemented. The status of implementation is being reviewed quarterly.
This is all about how evaluation plan was developed, implemented and reviewed. Let me now say a bit about the contributing factors. The list of the contributing factors include:
- Common goals: Promote evaluation
- Response to global call: SDGs, IEY 2015, Eval Year Celebration, Conclave 2013, 2015
- Institutional mandate: Constitution, Bill
- Commitment: Institutional, personal, resources
- Engagement: Concept development, design, planning, implementation, reviewing (Every stage)
- Appreciation: Respect, recognition of contribution
- Complementarity: Avoiding duplication, synergy
- Review/reflection: Quarterly by core group and network members,
- Core Group: Champion, Communication and peer pressure
- Trust building: Voluntarism, transparency, accountability and Mutual understanding.
Lessons learnt:
- Working together takes a relatively longer time in the beginning
- Evaluation champions among the stakeholders streamlines the process of working together
- Directions from UN HQ to the country agencies enhances the support process
- International support is crucial
Challenges
- Bringing different stakeholders on board
- Getting things done in time
- Volunteering time
- Sustaining the support from different stakeholders
Question to the Round Table Participants
- How to sustain the support from different stakeholders in National Evaluation Capacity Development?
- I welcome to your experience in this area.