The UNFPA Evaluation Office, EvalYouth Global Network and the World Bank’s Global Evaluation Initiative are formally collaborating to institutionalize meaningful engagement and capacity development of young and emerging evaluators (YEEs). The partnership will align the ongoing global efforts to scale up youth engagement in evaluation, by promoting a common vision and approach, increased coordination and pooling of resources.
The partnership is particularly significant as the global development community fast tracks actions for transformative recovery from COVID-19 and full delivery of the Sustainable Development Goals. When youth participate in accountability processes, including in evaluation, it enhances inclusion, ownership and delivery of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which promises to leave no one behind.
“Given the chronic exclusion of youth in evaluation processes, coordinated efforts at all levels are required to increase youth representation and meaningful participation in evaluation”, says Gabriela Rentería Flores, Chair, EvalYouth Global Network. These efforts are in line with the United Nations Secretary General’s call for innovative solutions and partnerships to propel the Decade of Action, and the delivery of the United Nations Youth Strategy 2030.
“This strategic collaboration is aligned with our commitment, as captured in the UNFPA Evaluation Policy, to empower and build capacities of young and emerging evaluators to deliver on the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) Programme of Action and drive sustainable development”, says Marco Segone, Director, UNFPA Evaluation Office.
Dugan Fraser, Program Manager, Global Evaluation Initiative says, “We have a historic opportunity to reach the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Global partnerships that propel evaluation capacity development, including for YEEs, can close the monitoring and evaluation gap to track the progress on national development strategies.”
As part of the partnership, together the agencies and networks will enhance global commitments for youth participation in evaluation, create a sustained demand for young evaluators and increase the supply of diverse young evaluators.
For more information on the partnership, please reach out to Asela Kalugampitiya at kalugampitiya@unfpa.org.
