1. EES Conference Maastricht 28 September 2016 (17:00 - 18:30)
How evaluators can become agents of change: opportunities and challenges arising from the sustainable development goals (SDG) agenda
EES Conference Maastricht
28 September 2016 (17: :30)

2. Background
Several initiatives to highlight importance of evaluation within the Agenda
Strengthening national evaluation capacities and setting national evaluation agendas
e.g. EVALSDGs, Bangkok Declaration, in October 2015, Global Evaluation Agenda , in November 2015
Technical seminar on SDG2 evaluability organised by the evaluation offices of the Rome-based Agencies (November 2015)

3. The New Agenda up to 2030
SDG agenda transformative – offers opportunities and new Theories of Change
Growth, prosperity and sustainability - three dimensions embedded in the SDGs
SDGs – dynamic and interconnected
Strong focus on equity and social justice – requires granular data and analysis
Ownership at country level – requires commitment and capacity to implement; considering the political economy of evaluation

4. Complexity and pluralism
SDGs are aspirational, provide normative framework (not planning framework)
SDGs are country-owned; different role for international partners
SDGs are multi-sectoral, require multi-stakeholder collaboration for implementation
Complexity underpins pluralism
Evaluation to be adaptive, to evolve and accommodate complexity
Opportunities for collective learning; being accountable for learning as well as for results

5. Indicators and data (SDG2)
Three problems with indicators (J. K. Sundaram):
What we cannot measure also matters
Agreement has to be followed by implementation
Poor countries less engaged in discussion of indicators
Global data architecture - uneven availability of data between countries
Indicators concerned about food supply, less on food availability
Data gaps on acute malnutrition and nutritional status of special groups
Granular data to monitor vulnerable populations and equitable access to food (e.g. migrants, displaced persons, ethnic minorities)

6. Data systems
M&E information – level of granularity needed for decision making within the diversity of relevant contexts
Data systems often politicized – measuring access to food potentially controversial
Agricultural statistics suffer from limited funding, limited capacity, lack of consistency – and lack of political and institutional commitment
New solutions include geo-referencing, remote sensing, open source software, mobile technology, crowdsourcing

7. A new role for evaluation
Evaluation has to inform implementation of the SDG agenda
Evaluation to become a politically engaged and focused on knowledge
Evaluation to address rights rather than results -communicate knowledge rather than evidence (I.C. Davies)

8. Implications for IFAD
Engagement in Evaluation Capacity Development (e.g. Ethiopia, China)
Increased role of “self-evaluation” (Government) (e.g. Egypt)
Potential tension between different evaluation agendas, standards and audiences
Use of national data limited by availability and quality

9. Topics for further discussion
Challenges of politicised data systems
Look at both successes and failures
Usefulness and timeliness of evaluations
“Big data” to address existing data gaps?
External validity vs contextual relevance
Mainstreaming principles of democratic evaluation