Conference: Monitoring and Evaluation for

Inclusive & Sustainable Food Systems

M&E on the cutting Edge Conference; 3-4 April 2019

Trends and developments in M&E

Interviews carried out with international

evaluation experts & PME colleagues

(WUR: WCDI & WEcR) & brief literature

review:

- international trends & developments

- trends in developments in planning,

monitoring & evaluation

Paper to be included in conference report

Trends & developments, based on:

Interviews with international evaluation experts & PME colleagues (WUR)

Literature review (quick scan)

Wendy Asbeek Brusse; Ferko Bodnar; Karel Chambille; Scott

Chaplowe; Oscar Garcia; Henk Gilhuis; Irene de Goede; Ian

Goldman; Dieneke de Groot; Irene Guijt; Peter Huijsman; Zenda

Ofir; Peter Konijn; Ziad Moussa; Rituu B. Nanda; Michael Quinn

Patton; Patricia Rogers; Thomas Schwandt; Elliot Stern; Michele

Tarsilla; Howard White; Bob Williams.

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Key international trends & developments

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International trends and developments (1)

SDGs

● + help to focus on sustainable future for all

● + interconnected, need for collaboration

● + 169 targets; 232 impact indicators

Climate change:

● One of most pressing concerns, requires urgent attention

● + Paris agreement on climate change; country agreements

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International trends and developments (2)

Food and nutrition insecurity

Conflict, security & migration

Growing population (>700 billion) & urbanisation (55% now-> 68% in 2050, esp. Asia & Africa)

Inequality (82% wealth-richest 1%; 3.7 billion people –poorest, no increase in wealth)

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International trends and developments (3)

Increasing complexity

Changing political climate (populism) & changing aid sector (shrinking space civil society) & fake news

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Key M&E related trends & developments

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M&E related trends and developments (1)

Increasing importance of M&E for sustainable development and transformation towards SDGs Collective learning, knowledge sharing, and capacity building in development evaluation, in line with Agenda 2030, contributes to stronger evaluation systems and practice (OECD-DAC)

Need to focus more on monitoring and learning for adaptive management to help transform society

Embrace complexity sensitive evaluation approaches (e.g. developmental evaluation, realist evaluation, process tracing, contribution analysis, qualitative comparative analysis, outcome harvesting, narratives, stories of change)

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M&E related trends and developments (2)

Move beyond measuring indicators towards evaluative thinking – importance of sensemaking.

Move from evaluation criteria to design (and M&E) principles

Deal with the politics of evidence, and communicate evidence

Make use of (technology supported) evidence for transparency & development: systematic reviews (3ie); “evidence gap maps”; big data; open data; mobile data; block chain

Global evaluation agenda By working together, wherever we may be, we can advance knowledge, learning and accountability in the journey towards healthier and happier lives, social justice and a safer planet for all

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M&E related trends and developments (3)

Evaluators to develop their capacity and engage with

transformation: “Transformation implies paradigm shifts,

alternatives, innovations and transitions. It refers to large

systems change”. (Zenda Ofir)

● Blue Marble Evaluators: “For evaluation to play its

appropriate role in these initiatives and through these

diverse platforms, for evaluation to be invited to the

table where global initiatives are the focus and make a

contribution to solving global problems, we need

evaluators knowledgeable about and competent in global

systems analysis” (M.Q. Patton)

● evaluators “to get out of their comfort zone and cross

technical and personal boundaries and move towards

more resilient evaluation practices” (Michele Tarsilla).

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M&E related trends and developments (4)

Evaluators to develop their capacity and engage with

transformation:

● Develop systems & complexity & evaluative thinking,

sensemaking; move beyond fixation on metrics (The Tyranny of

Metrics).

● Inclusive: “Increasingly, M&E is evolving from a specialized pursuit

of professionals or technical specialists to a more inclusive practice

involving a wider assortment of stakeholders”….. “When M&E

becomes more inclusive it supports more than reporting and

auditing; it builds social capital and responsibility as stakeholders

reflect upon and learn from their own experience, using this to

make and own decisions about their future,” (Chaplowe & Cousins,

2017. M&E Training: A Systematic Approach).

M&E as a capacity beyond the M&E profession: project teams,

managers, and senior leadership, and other stakeholders, such as

community members.

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Thank you for

your attention!

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Conference ‘M&E for Inclusive & Sustainable Food Systems’

3-4 April 2019

#MEConference

Conference info:

http://tinyurl.com/y84ndnwk