Rome, 6 March 2025 – “We can now look at a growing cadre of evaluators from the Global South who possess great competence, coming from the UNDP National Evaluation Capacities Conference (NEC) series, from AfrEA, from IPDET and other evaluation networks. They may not be well-known, but they do a lot more evaluation on the ground than is done in the Global North. These new voices will replace expert evaluators who have been undisputed over the past twenty years. Today, the big names, the era evaluation gurus are out. In some cases, this is good because they projected a particular ideology”, stated Dr Indran A. Naidoo, Director of the Independent Office of Evaluation of IFAD (IOE) in his keynote address during the joint IDEAS/NDB-IEO International Conference, which took place from 4 to 6 March 2025.

The Independent Evaluation Office (IEO) of the New Development Bank (NDB), under the leadership of its Director General, Mr. Ashwani Muthoo, co-hosted the conference together with the International Development Evaluation Association (IDEAS), under the leadership of its President, Ms. Ada Ocampo.

“This global gathering brings together leading voices in evaluation, policy, and international development. Evaluation must be independent, dynamic, and influential, serving as a catalyst for positive transformation rather than a retrospective assessment tool. As we embark on three days of dialogue and knowledge-sharing, the focus remains on how evaluation can shape more resilient, equitable, and sustainable development pathways in an increasingly complex world”, said Mr Muthoo.

The event took place at the headquarters of the Food and Agricultural Organization of the UN, and drew over 300 evaluation experts from all over the world attended the event. Under the theme ‘Multi-dimensional Evaluation for Influence and Transformation’, the focus of the conference was on the pivotal role of evaluation in fostering transformational change amidst today's multifaceted global challenges. The conference also hosted the IDEAS Annual General Meeting.

“During the IDEAS Annual General Meeting, held at the IDEAS & NDB-IEO 2025 Conference, members gathered to review the association’s progress and future directions. Key topics discussed featured the activity report, financial overview and upcoming activities for 2025. A big thank you to all members who participated and contributed to shaping the future of IDEAS! Together, we continue to strengthen the evaluation community and drive transformation”, said Ms. Ocampo.

IOE played a very important role in the event, financially and substantively. From a financial perspective, IOE provided support for bursaries. Substantively, IOE engaged in one professional development workshop and six conference main sessions, including the keynote panel on the first day. In the panel, Dr Naidoo was joined by Ms. Isabelle Mercier, Director of IEO of UNDP; Mr. Daniel Ortega, Director, Development, Contributions and Impact Evaluation, Development, Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean; Peter E. Wichmand, Board member IDEAS; and Ms. Ada Ocampo, President, IDEAS.

“As an evaluation community, we are under constant pressure on the dimension of independence. This is because it has become known that evaluation is power. Unfortunately, evidence does not matter anymore, and irrationality has become the new norm. Falsity can be made to look like truth”, Dr Naidoo underscored.

In the afternoon, Dr Kouessi Maximin Kodjo, IOE Lead Evaluation Officer, participated in the session titled ‘Driving transformational change: Leveraging Evaluation and Partnerships for Private Sector Impact’. Panellists included Mr. Muthoo; Gabriele Fattorelli, Director, Independent Evaluation Department (IEvD), European bank for Reconstruction and development (EBRD); and Dima Al-Khatib, Director, United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation. Discussions focused on practical examples on the current practices relating to impact measurement and reporting and on experiences of collaborative approaches and partnerships for transformative change and private sector impact.

On the second day of the conference, Dr Naidoo was among the panellists of the high-level plenary panel discussion on ‘Evaluation for Influence and Transformation’, alongside Dr Md Neyamat Ullah Bhuiyan, Senior Secretary, Planning Commission of Bangladesh; Ms. Clemencia Cosentino, Director, FAO Office of Evaluation; Mr. Daniel Ortega, Director of Impact Assessment, CAF -Development Bank of Latin America; and Mr. Godfrey Mashamba, Deputy Director General, Evaluation, Evidence and Knowledge Systems, Department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation, South Africa. Mr. Luciano Lavizzari, Former IFAD Director and former Ambassador of Switzerland moderated the session, which explored the key factors that create an enabling environment for independent evaluation and how challenges in this space can be addressed.

Evaluators often encounter resistance due to the perception of evaluation as a judgment rather than a supportive function. In his intervention, the IOE Director explained that overcoming this perception requires a shift in mindset—one that fosters an open and constructive approach to evaluation as a tool for learning and development effectiveness. A crucial aspect of this transformation is the application of soft skills in evaluation practice. Effective communication, problem-solving, and inclusive engagement are essential in ensuring that evaluations lead to meaningful change.

“The question is: how do we move from EP to E²? Whereby with EP we refer to ‘evaluation phobia’, and with E² we refer to ‘evaluation embracing’. The answer is that this can only happen if work on the chemistry and the psychological composition of the evaluators”, explained Dr Nadioo.

Later the same day, Dr Naidoo joined the panel titled ‘Exploring the Emerging Sustainability Revolution’, which included Ms. Geeta Batra, Director of the Independent Evaluation Office, Global Environment Facility; Mr. Juha Uitto, Visiting Scholar at the Environmental Law Institute; Board Director, International Evaluation Academy; Ms. Neha Sharma, Results Based Management, Knowledge and Learning Lead, Adaptation Fund; and Mr. Rob D. Van Den Berg, Visiting Professor at the Department of International Development, King’s College. The session focused attention on a possible energy revolution that will make the transformational change to work towards the realization of the SDGs and the Paris Agreement easier. In this regard, panelists discussed what evaluation can do in the initial stage of this transition.

“Right now, we have an evidence deluge. There is so much information out there, but the biggest challenge is that the noise is making it difficult to distinguish the politics from the science. In this context, given the power dynamics, there is a strong possibility that evaluators become more marginalized”, highlighted the IOE Director.

IOE also contributed to the session titled ‘System thinking approaches towards transformational change: assessing the nexus between crisis, climate, and environment’, during which Dr Kodjo and Ms. Massiel Jiménez, IOE Evaluation Research Analyst, discussed how evaluation approaches can address both the risks and resilience that lie at the nexus of climate, crisis and development to recommend pathways to ensure the transformation of systems and practice. Furthermore, Dr Mònica Lomeña-Gelis, IOE Senior Evaluation Officer, was among the panellists of the session titled ‘From conservationism to multi-benefit approaches: evaluating community-focused natural resource protection programmes’. Dr Lomeña-Gelis was also among the discussants of the professional development workshop titled ‘Evaluation Ecosystems: Building Culturally Relevant and Context-Adapted Methodologies for Transformational Impact’, which Dr Kodjo moderated.

In addition to IOE, the conference was supported by a host of international partners, including the Independent Evaluation Offices of UNDP, of UNFPA and of the Global Environmental Facility; the German Institute for Development Evaluation; the International Initiative for Impact Evaluation; the BRICS Policy Center; the International Evaluation Academy; and the Clear centres for learning on evaluation and results.

IDEAS positions itself as the only global professional evaluation association which focuses on international sustainable development. Over the years it remains the only home for evaluators working globally and on global issues, with a global perspective. The IEO of the NDB conducts evaluations to improve the NDB’s development effectiveness and to further the achievement of the Bank’s mandate. Independent evaluation plays a central role to drive quality and development impact of the Bank.

For further information, please contact Dr Alexander Voccia, Senior Evaluation Communication & KM Specialist [here].

• For more information on the IDEAS-NBD conference, please click here.

• To access the brochure ‘More than a journey | 20 years of independence, please click here.
• To access the latest edition of Independent Magazine, please click here.
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