IDEAS Global Assembly 2011 was held in Amman, Jordan, from April 11 to 15.
The theme for this Assembly was: “Evaluation in Turbulent Times: The Crises of Food, Fuel, and Finances.”
Papers, panels, and small group discussions addressed all three of these substantive areas and their implications for development evaluation. In addition, three keynote speakers addressed these issues at Assembly-wide plenary sessions. The Assembly brought together more than 250 development evaluators to discuss development evaluation and its relation to these global crises, to build skills in development evaluation through pre-session training workshops, to network with other evaluators from around the world, and to take home new perspectives, new skills, new networks, and new materials–all of this in very real times of turbulence!
The delegates sought to learn from country case studies, from comparative analysis, and most importantly, from evaluations themselves. The objective was to leave the Assembly with a clearer idea of how to work in an environment of constant change, of how to work when baselines are often quickly outmoded, and when theories of change lose their focus. In doing so, delegates contributed to advancing the knowledge base and thus helping to improve our future efforts.
As with the 2009 Assembly, a book including the key papers and presentations was published by the World Bank; this was made possible by generous support from the donors to the 2009 Assembly.
