The 2019 National Evaluation Capacities (NEC) Conference gathered 500 participants from 117 countries from 20 -24 October 2019 in Hurghada, Egypt. Themed ‘Leaving No One Behind: Evaluation for 2030’, the conference focused on the role of evaluation in supporting the UN’s Agenda 2030. The event provided an opportunity for in-depth discussions on the challenges and solutions for building national evaluation frameworks that will facilitate inclusive development that leave no one behind, and that will help to monitor and report on progress towards the SDGs. It also served as a platform for participants to network and to share experiences on building capacities in regards to the SDGs.
Hon. Evelyn Mpagi-Kaabule, APNODE Chairperson, attended the Conference, serving as a panelist in two discussion sessions. The first, themed ‘Strengthening demand for and use of national evaluation systems to inform national development strategies’, moderated by Ms. Ada Ocampo, Senior Evaluation Specialist, UNICEF, sought to promote a dialogue amongst parliamentarians and other evaluation stakeholders on the urgency of strengthening national evaluation policies and systems in the context of the Agenda 2030 and in line with the Colombo Declaration. To this end, the session highlighted the importance of strengthening national enabling environments and increasing the demand for, and utilization of, evaluation. A key recommendation of the session was for states and partners to work together to build the requisite capacity to request, provide, and use the results of evaluations generated by national M&E actors.
The second session was on ‘Transforming Evaluation through Partnerships’. The session focused on the essence of partnerships between international organizations and national counterparts, aimed at transforming evaluation in the context of SDGs. Carlos Andres Asenjo Ruiz of the Independent Evaluation Section, UNODC moderated the session. The panel, among others, discussed the importance of evaluation capacity development for peer-to-peer learning and partners sharing and learning from each other. Hon. Evelyn Mpagi-Kaabule spoke about APNODE’s partnership with Independent Development Evaluation at the African Development Bank and used the opportunity to highlight the objectives and involvement of APNODE in the process of nurturing an evaluation culture across the continent.