| Session Title: Impact Evaluation and Development: Debates and the new International Architecture for Impact Evaluation |
| Expert Lecture Session 548 to be held in Capitol Ballroom Section 1 on Friday, Nov 7, 10:55 AM to 11:40 AM |
| Sponsored by the International and Cross-cultural Evaluation TIG |
| Chair(s): |
| Jim Rugh, Independent Consultant, jimrugh@mindspring.com |
| Presenter(s): |
| Howard White, International Initiative for Impact Evaluation, hwhite@3ieimpact.org |
| Abstract: Impact evaluation has been at the centre of growing controversy in development circles in recent years. Critics - notably the Center for Global Development - have argued that have been virtually no rigorous impact evaluations of development interventions. This point of view has been contested by development agencies, who point to an existing body of studies, and evaluators, who question the primacy afforded to particular approaches. This presentation will review these debates and the institutional responses which have resulted in a rapidly developing new international architecture for impact evaluation: specifically the Network of Networks on Impact Evaluation (NONIE), the International Initiative for Impact Evaluation (3ie), and the World Bank in-house initiatives - the Development Impact Evaluation initiative (DIME), the Spanish Impact Evaluation Fund (SIEF) and the Africa Impact Evaluation Initiative. |