New Delhi: The COE (Community of Evaluators) is organizing the first ever South Asian Evaluation Conclave 2010 in the capital between October 25th-28th 2010 at The Lalit. This first-of-its-kind Conclave is aimed at exploring the fundamentals of “Evaluation Exercise” in the context of the “Development Process” and also to formulate universal benchmarks and gold standards for evaluation of development programmes.

The 4-day Conclave will feature global thinkers engaged in innovative evaluation research and practice in different thematic areas: Rural Development, Gender Equality, Environment, Health and Education. The aim of this Conclave is to share critique and improve evaluation practices to fix accountability, assess performance and learn from it especially in the South Asian Development context. Some of the renowned global evaluators include Robert Chambers, Abhijit Sen, Jim Rugh, Howard White and Ray Pawson. There will also be speakers from international agencies such as TERI, Rockefeller Foundation, 3ie, Oxfam America, International Development Research Centre, Canada and universities of repute.

The thrust towards performance management, accountability and learning in developmental initiatives has brought evaluation at the forefront of implementation strategies. The Conclave aims to develop a uniform evaluation paradigm that will help in facilitating the design of development schemes including beneficiary selection, precise allocation of resources, project management and effective utilization of financial and physical resources so as to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) targets for the South-Asian region.

The theme of the conclave is “Making Evaluation Matter”. It encompasses an approach to evaluation that starts with relevance and context with a broad understanding of who evaluation should serve: governments, civil society, donors, et al and focuses attention on the needs and mandates of organizations and systems involved in evaluation and thereby culminating in enhancing accountability.

The Conclave will see participation from South Asian countries including India, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.