Global Evidence and Implementation Summit 2018, 22-24 October, Melbourne, Australia

The Global Evidence and Implementation Summit 2018 (GEIS) brought together experts from across the world to talk about their experiences in generating and implementing evidence for better policy and practice. The summit featured talks on a number of sectors, including child and social welfare, education, humanitarian aid, international development, health and environment. The summit will explore evidence on designing, implementing and reviewing effective programmes and policies.

3ie is a summit partner, and has funded bursaries for a limited number of candidates to attend GEIS. Applications for bursaries are now closed. For information on bursaries, including the eligibility criterion, click here.

Start Date: 22 October 2018 End Date: 24 October 2018

Community-driven development: what does the evidence say?

1:30pm – 2:30pm, 22 October
Chair: Neeta Goel, senior evaluation specialist, 3ie
Panellists: Aniceo Orbeta, Philippines Institute for Development Studies; Howard White, Campbell Collaboration; Lauren Kelly, World Bank; Susan Wong, World Bank

Panellists will discuss what evidence (evaluations and synthesis studies) has to say about whether and how community-driven development (CDD) programmes work to improve public infrastructure, livelihoods, governance and social cohesion. Panellists will discuss programme design and other factors influencing impact. They will also talk about implications for further operational, implementation research and impact evaluations.

What evidence exists for water, sanitation and hygiene interventions? An evidence gap map

4:00pm – 4:20pm, 22 October
Speaker: Hannah Chirgwin, research associate, 3ie

This presentation will explore all the impact evaluations and systematic reviews related to water, sanitation and hygiene interventions using a 3ie funded evidence gap map.

Open data, documentation and quality

9:30am – 10:30am, 23 October
Chair: Benjamin DK Wood, director, Measuring Impact, Integra LLC
Panellists: Clara Lorena Trujillo Quintero, Evaluation Coordinator, Government of Colombia's National Department of Planning; Neeta Goel, Senior Evaluation Specialist, International Initiative for Impact Evaluation (3ie); Paul Winters,  Interim Associate Vice-President of the Strategy and Knowledge Department, International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD); Dr. Sudharsanam Balasubramaniam, Children's Investment Fund Foundation

Demand has never been higher for the increased use of evidence to inform policymaking and programmatic decision-making. At the same time, the collection and analysis of data for impact evaluation is expensive, constraining what we can learn. In order to reconcile these demand and supply constraints, funders and program implementers are increasingly demanding that data be repurposed and reused to improve the evidence base for their decisions on what to fund and more efficiently use resources that have already been allocated. Additionally, the research community is starting to demand more openness in data to build even further upon previous findings. Panellists are all experts who have worked extensively on open data projects, and will describe their experiences promoting open data and successes and challenges in using it. 

Building responsible government: high-level policy perspectives on the value of national evaluation ecosystems

9:30am – 10:30am, 24 October
Chair: Emmanuel Jimenez, executive director, 3ie
Panellists: Dr Abdoulaye Gounou, Bureau of Public Policies Evaluation and Government Action Analysis, Presidency, Benin; Hon Minister Dr. Anthony Akoto Osei, Ministry of Monitoring and Evaluation, Ghana; Nompumelolo Mpofu, director general, department for monitoring and evaluation, The Presidency, South Africa; Hon Minister Mr. Ruth Nankabirwa, Government Chief Whip, Uganda; Hon Dr.Julius Muia, Principal Secretary for Planning and Statistics, The National Treasury and Planning, Kenya

Establishing national evaluation systems is complex and long-term commitment. It requires political will, demand for evaluation evidence, the ability to grow institutional structures, a learning culture and increased capacities, and adequate financing.  High-level policymakers will discuss their successes and challenges in building a culture of evaluation and evidence use. They will focus in particular on what they are doing to build capacities to undertake evaluations systematically and what they are doing to institutionalise demand for evidence and commitment to implementing findings.