The director of the Independent Office of Evaluation of IFAD, Mr. Oscar A. García, participated in the workshop on technology is changing evaluation worldwide and in Luxembourg as well hosted by the Luxembourg Evaluation and Foresight Association (SOLEP Acronym in French) in Luxembourg on 21 February 2018. The SOLEP event explored the links between quantitative methods, qualitative approaches and new data sources in the evaluation of public policies.

Mr. Garcia shared experiences on the latest innovative approaches to the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in development evaluation and best practices that have emerged from the experiences of development organizations and the private sector across the world. The presentation set out to explore what is possible today, and what the future holds.

The workshop was divided into three parts:

• "Innovative approaches to development evaluation: the use of ICTs", by Mr. Garcia, Director
• "Evaluation of Active Labour Market Policies" by Mrs. Michela Bia, researcher at the Luxembourg Institute for Socio-Economic Research (LISER)
• “Combining Quantitative and Qualitative Analysis – a case study of a 15-year evaluation of cooperation between Luxembourg and El Salvador” by Ms Natacha Gomes, Coordinator, Evaluation and Quality Control, Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs, and Ms Sandrine Beaujean, Head of the Department of Development Assistance, ARTEMIS.