Regional advocacy to accelerate action towards influential evaluation to support the achievement of the 2030 Agenda
UNFPA Evaluation Office
(
United Nations / Multilateral body
)
#SDGAction33491
Description
In alignment with and complementary to the UN SG’s Decade of Action, the Decade of EVALUATION for Action (Eval4Action) was initiated by UNFPA Evaluation Office, EvalYouth Global Network and the Global Parliamentarians Forum for Evaluation. Eval4Action supports regional evaluation networks to advocate for influential evaluation to accelerate the achievement of the SDGs. In 2020, 6 regional consultations were held that helped to mobilize multi-stakeholder partnerships, commitments and actions towards the use of evaluation for achieving the SDGs. Eval4Action brings widespread recognition to evaluation as a powerful tool to improve public accountability and good governance to achieve the SDGs.
The Eval4Action campaign was initiated in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, therefore all advocacy efforts were held in the virtual space. At the global level, Eval4Action has mobilized 125 partners as part of the digital global campaign, to advocate action for influential evaluation towards achievement of the SDGs. The regional advocacy was initiated with six Eval4Action regional consultations that were jointly organized by regional partners with the global campaign’s support. In each region, the regional evaluation network and the regional EvalYouth chapter helmed the regional consultations. The regional consultation were held (in this order) in the Asia Pacific, Middle East and North America, Latin America and the Caribbean, Europe, Eurasia and Africa. The regional consultation in North America will be held on 20 April 2021. These regional consultations have mobilized a wide range of stakeholders to frame regional action plans to promote influential evaluation. The regional consultations served as platform for stakeholders to set priorities for evaluation advocacy in the region. The consultations facilitated Young and Emerging Evaluators (YEEs), parliamentarians, regional and national VOPE (Voluntary Organizations for Professional Evaluation) leaders, academia and dev partners in the region to work on a common agenda on strengthening the evaluation culture for the achievement of SDGs. YEEs play a strong leadership role at the global level in the campaign, including in consultations. At the global, regional and national levels, the campaign also engages closely with parliamentarians, including through the regional consultations. This is significant as parliamentarians as users of evaluation, can bring about real change in the demand for evaluation for policymaking
Since the launch of Eval4Action in April 2020 over 125 partner organizations have joined the campaign. Six regional consultations over a short period of six months has created a global momentum for action for influential evaluation. These efforts have led to the co-creation of regional evaluation action plans to strengthen influential evaluation for accelerating achievement of SDGs in the regions. Eg. the Asia Pacific Regional Evaluation Strategy was co-created with 22 partners and launched in December 2020. The partnership and synergies created among stakeholders has strengthened regional evaluation networks that had an opportunity to actively promote evaluation during the COVID-19 response and recovery initiatives, due to the virtual nature of the campaign. In addition, Eval4Action has generated a large number of commitments for actions on influential evaluation. In 2021, the campaign is advocating for translating the commitments to real action for influential evaluation.
The UN resolution A/RES/69/237, "Evaluation Capacity Building for the Achievement of Development Results at Country Level” passed in December 2014 and the UN Resolution 2015 A/70/1 “Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development” emphasize need for a strong evaluation culture to promote the delivery of the SDGs. In addition UN SG’s Decade of Action is a strong enabling factor. The volunteer nature of the VOPEs and other partners are potential constraints in securing dedicated efforts to promote influential evaluation. In this context, mobilizing and engaging partners in each region has become essential.
The momentum created through Eval4Action in each region has mobilized strong commitment from partners for ongoing advocacy for influential evaluation. Regional and national partners continue to work together to shape and deliver regional action plans and relevant initiatives. Since the campaign’s outreach is primarily online, the digital nature of the campaign makes it less resource intensive and essentially more sustainable. At the same time, the campaign has increased digital advocacy skills of evaluation advocates. Regional partners’ capacity has been built to further train evaluation advocates at the national and local levels, including planning, organizing and conducting similar advocacy initiatives. The regions have taken the ownership of the campaign and continue to enhance roll out of evaluation advocacy at the grass roots level. As the campaign progresses, Eval4Action will also be focusing on national consultations to prepare national evaluation action plans.
https://www.eval4action.org/ https://www.eval4action.org/partners https://www.eval4action.org/resources https://www.eval4action.org/post/eval4action-launch-in-asia-pacific https://www.eval4action.org/post/regional-consultation-in-middle-east-a… https://www.eval4action.org/post/regional-consultation-in-latin-america… https://www.eval4action.org/post/regional-consultation-in-europe https://www.eval4action.org/post/eval4action-consultation-in-eurasia https://www.eval4action.org/post/eval4action-consultation-and-launch-in…
Many regional/national evaluation focused organizations face several challenges including resource constraints. With the COVID-19 crisis, the situation has became worse. However due to the virtual nature of Eval4Action, many organizations took the advantage of less resource intensive digital outreach initiatives. This gave an opportunity for many organizations to digitally promote evaluation during COVID-19. With the devastating impact of COVID-19 especially on vulnerable populations, evidence-based decision-making has become more critical. In this scenario, evaluation plays an important role to inform the equitable and sustainable recovery from COVID-19, as evaluative evidence can show what is working and what is not, and for whom and why, supporting better public decision-making.
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Overall, the stakeholders are regional and national VOPEs, individual evaluators, EvalYouth chapters, parliamentarians, UN agencies, civil society and private sector organizations. In addition, evaluation advocates have immensely benefitted from the campaign, who had an opportunity to enhance their knowledge, evaluation advocacy skills and effective messaging on influential evaluation.
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Contact Information
Marco, Director, Evaluation Office