APRIL 20, 2023 – The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) underscored the importance of building local expertise on impact evaluation and producing evidence and studies that will inform the implementation and updating of the Philippine Development Plan 2023-2028.
In response to the increasing demand for evidence-based policy-making, NEDA, in collaboraftion with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP in the Philippines,) and the Development Academy of the Philippines (DAP), initiated the Capacity Development Program on Impact Evaluation for CY 2023, which commenced on April 17, 2023. Participants include representatives from NEDA regional offices (NROs) and state universities and colleges (SUCs).
During his opening statement, NEDA Undersecretary Carlos Bernardo O. Abad Santos emphasized the need for additional evaluation experts to bridge the widening gap between the demand and supply for impact evaluations.
“We are witnessing an increasing demand for impact evaluations from policy-makers, legislators, development partners, and government agencies who seek to gather more evidence to improve policies and programs. On the other hand, our supply of evaluation experts is insufficient to meet the demand,” he said.
NEDA Undersecretary Joseph J. Capuno likewise emphasized the importance of impact evaluation in providing an evidence-based understanding of the effectiveness of government interventions.
“When conducting impact evaluations, you generate evidence, and that evidence can often be surprising. It might align with your expectations, but at times it can deviate from them. The evidence is what it is, and you can learn from it; how the real world works,” he said.
Meanwhile, Dr. Selva Ramachandran, the UNDP Philippines Resident Representative, emphasized in his statement that the findings of evaluations can offer solutions to tackle both new and recurring development challenges.
“Far from being just an intellectual exercise, impact evaluation adds rigor to the quality of policy making and design of government interventions,” he said.
Mitchell Castillon, an attending representative from NRO Caraga (Region 13), recognized the potential of impact evaluation as a valuable tool for monitoring and evaluating the regional development plan (RDP) of Caraga.
“I believe that impact evaluation will be crucial in assessing the effectiveness of the programs and projects proposed in RDP Caraga, to determine whether they are achieving the objectives outlined in the plan,” he said.
During the event, Dr. Rupert Deluna, a professor at the University of Southeastern Philippines and one of the SUC representatives in attendance, shared his perspective on the role of the academe in impact evaluation.
“Academia already possesses the necessary capabilities to conduct impact assessments, and we also have a research mandate to do so. Partnership between the academe and NEDA will make conducting impact evaluations easier in terms of access to the skills and resources needed for it,” he said.
This capacity development program was made possible through the NEDA-UNDP Strategic Monitoring and Evaluation Project and the FY 2023 Monitoring & Evaluation Fund.
The first phase of the capacity development program will be conducted from April 17, 2023, until April 28, 2023. During these two weeks, participants will attend courses on impact evaluation facilitated by various invited experts in the field. An Executive Course will also be conducted from April 20-21, 2023 to be participated in by Regional Directors (RDs) and OIC-RDs or their respective Assistant Regional Directors (ARDs)/OIC-ARDs.
By the end of the program, each region is expected to develop a proposal for an impact evaluation study. Up to eight proposals will be selected to receive funding for implementation.
[View the event photos on NEDA’s Facebook page]
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