The International Organization for Cooperation in Evaluation (IOCE)1 and UNICEF, in partnership with several major organizations, launched an innovative partnership to enhance the capacities of Civil Society Organizations (CSO) to influence policy makers, public opinion and other key stakeholders so that public policies are based on evidence, and incorporate considerations of equity and effectiveness. The objective of the Initiative is to enhance the capacities of CSOs to engage in a strategic and meaningful manner in national evaluation processes, contributing to improved country-led evaluation systems and policies that are equity-focused and gender equality responsive.
The expected outcomes of this initiative are three-fold:
A. Voluntary Organizations of Professional Evaluators (VOPEs)2 have a strengthened Institutional capacity
B. VOPEs are able to play a strategic role within their countries, contributing to country-led evaluation systems and policies that are equity-focused and gender equality responsive, including by having better access to support by regional and international networks/associations (including IOCE and the more developed VOPEs) and institutions (including, inter alia, UNICEF), sharing lessons learned of similar experiences in other countries, and peer to peer mutual support.
C. VOPE members have stronger evaluation capacities, including by attending live webinars with international keynote speakers; e-learning programmes; mentoring programmes; and training organized by local institutions and more developed VOPEs.
The initiative foresees the mapping, documentation and sharing of VOPE’s good practices and lessons learned; a peer to peer mutual support programme and triangular cooperation; the use of social networking, social media and knowledge management systems; and the organization of an International Forum on CSO’s evaluation capacities organized in December 2012 in Thailand.
EvalPartners is guided by the principles stated in the Chiang Mai Declaration ( Arabic, English, French, Spanish, Russian ) and endorsed by the Forum’s Participants. EvalPartners’ Governance ensures an effective decision-making system.
If your VOPE or no-profit organization would like to join EvalPartners, or for additional information, please contact: Marco Segone and Natalia Kosheleva, EvalPartners Co-chairs. If you would like to join an EvalPartners Task Force, please click here for additional information.
1 IOCE is the international association representing national and regional Voluntary Organizations of Professional Evaluators (VOPE) in Americas, Africa, Australasia, East Europe and Commonwealth of Independent States, and the Middle East. For additional information, please visit www.ioce.net
2 Since a number of different names are used to describe these groups, the term Voluntary Organizations of Professional Evaluators (VOPEs) has been introduced. VOPEs include formally constituted associations or societies, as well as informal networks. Their memberships are open to not only those who conduct evaluations but also to those who commission and utilize evaluations and those engaged in building the evaluation field
