Multi-Country Workshop on Impact Evaluation of Agriculture and Community-Driven Development Programs in Addis Ababa, April 13-16 2009
The multi-country workshop on impact evaluation of Agriculture and Community-Driven Development Programs brought together high-level delegations from implementing agencies of World Bank projects in 15 countries, focusing on Sub-Saharan Africa.
The participating government delegations represented three areas of Bank operations: agricultural development, community-driven development (CDD), and local governance. Each of the participating agencies has recognized that impact evaluations could make a difference for the potential of their programs to achieve results on the ground: Prospective impact evaluations allow decision-makers to test alternative approaches to service delivery and scale up what has proven to be most effective.
The workshop equipped managerial and technical staff of implementing agencies with the tools and resources to make policy decisions that are based on rigorous, scientific evidence of program effectiveness. Workshop activities included hands-on training in impact evaluation methods, and the development of concrete impact evaluation plans.
Most importantly, the workshop matched government delegations and World Bank project teams with partners in academia and in the donor community to pursue the evidence-based improvement of major government programs collaboratively. Through the [AADAPT] and [PRIMEGovernance] programs, the Africa Impact Evaluation Initiative ensures that the impact evaluation proposals developed at the workshop are being put into practice out with all necessary technical support.
A number of delegations at the workshop came with prior experience in implementing impact evaluations, while other agencies were introducing impact evaluations for the first time. This constellation allowed new project teams to learn from existing experiences and resulted in productive discussions of impact evaluation findings and policy questions.
The Addis Ababa workshop was organized jointly by the World Bank’s Africa Results and Learning Unit (AFTRL), the Development Impact Evaluation (DIME) Initiative, the Africa Agriculture and Rural Development Unit (AFTAR), and the Gender Action Plan (GAP). Generous support from the GAP and the Belgian Poverty Reduction Partnership is gratefully acknowledged.
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