Celebrating International Year of Evaluation 2015, and
Launching 2016-2020 Global Evaluation Agenda

Where: Parliament of Nepal, Kathmandu, Nepal
When: 23 – 27 November 2015

1. International Year of Evaluation 2015

EvalPartners, the global movement to strengthen national evaluation capacities for equity-focused and gender-responsive evaluation systems, is planning to hold the Global Evaluation Week to commemorate the International Year of Evaluation (EvalYear) and launch the 2016-2020 evaluation agenda. The main EvalYear ceremony will be held in the Parliament of Nepal to strengthen an enabling environment for evaluation, including by promoting engagement of policy makers in evaluation and use of evidence from evaluation in policy-making.

The proposed location is Kathmandu, Nepal as the Parliament of Nepal has indicated interest in hosting the main EvalYear ceremony. This provides an opportunity for the evaluation community around the world to share achievements in creating enabling environment for evaluation and plan how to strengthen evaluation culture while getting together in EvalYear celebrations at the Parliament premises.

The exciting Global Evaluation Week will be historical with;

• Celebrating first International Year of Evaluation in a national parliament
• Launch of Global Evaluation Agenda 2016-2020
• Launch of the Global Parliamentarian Forum for Evaluation, as well as EvalParliament, a global partnership for evaluation and evidence-based policy making;
• Launch of the EvalGender+, the global partnership for equity-focused and gender-responsive evaluations;
• Launch of the EvalYouth, the global partnership for young evaluators;

EvalYear movement is led by EvalPartners with its membership, including all regional/main Voluntary Organizations for Professional Evaluation (VOPEs), UN agencies including United Nations Evaluation Group (UNEG), OECD/DAC EvalNet, governments, private foundations and civil society organizations. UNEG endorsed declaring 2015 as EvalYear and working with the UN General Assembly to pass a resolution on evaluation in early 2015. UNEG also conducted high-level meetings with member states at HQ and regionally to highlight the importance of the initiative.

2. Proposed programme and participants

The proposed five days programme (Monday to Friday, 23 – 27 November 2015) and includes CoE- SA Evaluation Conclave, EvalPartners Global Forum, Management Group meetings and EvalYear main ceremony at the Parliament of Nepal. EvalPartners Global Forum and Management Group meetings are for invited delegates and the main EvalYear celebration at the Parliament is open for Conclave attendees and other interested delegates.

¹ EvalPartners Global Forum Participants + CoE SA conclave participants

3. Partners

EvalPartners, co-chaired by the International Organization for Cooperation in Evaluation (IOCE) and UN Women, is the global movement to strengthen national evaluation capacities through Voluntary Organizations for Professional Evaluations (VOPEs). Its aim is to influence policy makers, public opinion and other key stakeholders so that public policies are based on evidence, and incorporate considerations of equity and effectiveness. The objective of the Initiative is to enhance the capacities of CSOs to engage in a strategic and meaningful manner in national evaluation processes, contributing to improved country-led evaluation systems and policies that are equity-focused

3.1  International Organization for Cooperation in Evaluation

The International Organization for Cooperation in Evaluation (IOCE) is an international partnership of national and regional evaluation associations that provides leadership in evaluation worldwide by encouraging demand for evaluation, and supporting organizational capacity for evaluation associations. The IOCE facilitates sharing ideas across the global evaluation community, promotes good governance of evaluation associations, and champions the recognition of the value and contributions of evaluation to improve the lives of people. It provides a platform for worldwide cooperation and partnership in evaluation, fostering the exchange of ideas, high professional standards and an open and global perspective among evaluators. http://www.ioce.net/en/index.php

3.2  Community of Evaluators South Asia

The Community of Evaluators South Asia (CoE-SA) is a group of professional evaluators working in South Asia as a regional VOPE representing national VOPEs of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and evaluation professionals from India. CoE-SA facilitates knowledge exchange between parties interested in evaluation by interacting with each other in-person and through electronic media. The CoE-SA intends to expand the knowledge and experience base of individuals as well as of the region as a whole and to provide opportunities to share these experiences with the international evaluation community. http://communityofevaluators.org/

3.3 Parliamentarians Forum for Development Evaluation

Parliamentarians Forum for Development Evaluation of South Asia is a collective of parliamentarians who are committed to development evaluations in SAARC countries. The Forum is an EvalPartners member. The Forum was initiated by a group of parliamentarians aiming to establish National Evaluation Policies in SAARC region. It was founded as a result of initial meeting and discussion had by a group of parliamentarians from Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bangladesh.  This is historical in parliamentarians giving a voice for national evaluation policies and promising commitment to realize it at country level. The Forum is now represented by parliamentarians from South Asian countries; Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Pakistan, Maldives and Sri Lanka. http://www.pfde.net/

We encourage you to share the news with those who may wish to participate in the Global Week activities or organise parallel events in their own area of operation. If you have any questions or information to be shared, please contact Asela Kalugampitiya, EvalPartners Executive Coordinator at aselakalugampitiya@yahoo.ie