SIEF and the South Asia Human Development Network and Sustainable Development department, along with BRAC in Bangladesh, Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA) Bangladesh, the Jameel Latif Poverty Action Lab (JPAL) South Asia office (with support from the World Bank’s CLEAR initiative), and the Center for Effective Global Action (CEGA) at UC Berkeley, organized two workshops in Dhaka for senior Bangladeshi officials and policymakers and researchers from across South Asia. The workshops focused on how to use impact evaluation research to measure program impact and on the importance of evidence for better policymaking.
A three-day hands-on workshop, from April 27 - April 29, 2014, was attended by 19 World Bank-led project teams and 12 non-World Bank teams from 5 countries. They were split into technical and policymaker tracks and worked with World Bank experts and our partner groups to design impact evaluations for their projects. An additional nine teams affiliated with SIEF's partner organizations for the workshop also joined. A total of 134 participants attended the workshop.
"The chance to work on our impact evaluation design, and learn more about what can be done, has been very useful," said Abdul Hares Halimi, an Afghan economist working on the World Bank's planned unconditional cash transfer program to assist the poorest smooth food consumption. "We need this evaluation in order to see if the program will help, because if not then the government needs to try other approaches."
SIEF, also organized an innovative one-day Evidence-to-Policy workshop for senior Bangladesh officials, which was opened by World Bank Bangladesh Country Director Johannes Zutt.
This all-day event, hosted in partnership with the Government of Bangladesh, had more than 130 participants, among them senior Bangladeshi policy and monitoring and evaluation officials from water and education ministries. Members of leading development organizations working in Bangladesh on health, education, water and sanitation and nutrition-related human development challenges also attended. A spirited panel discussion led by Bangladeshi officials debated the challenges incorporating evidence and how evidence has successfully informed Bangladeshi policies.
"Every ministry here pays attention to impact evaluation results and we are eager for further partnerships with international organizations,"
said Azam Sadat, deputy secretary in the Bangladesh government’s Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
For further information on the workshops and materials presented, please refer to the links on this page or contact Holly Blagrave at hblagrave@worldbank.org
----------
SIEF IN BANGLADESH
- SIEF is funding the evaluation of a program run by Save the Children to better understand how to improve children's development.
- Stanford University researchers are partnering with Bangladesh'sicddr,b to improve water quality in urban slums and SIEF is supporting the evaluation to learn whether this new approach will work.