3ie at the 9th AfrEA International Conference 2019

3ie staff participated in a series of sessions at the 9th AfrEA International Conference 2019 in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire from 11-15 March 2019. This biannual conference was hosted by the African Evaluation Association with the aim to promote and advocate for AfrEA’s ‘Made in Africa’ approach. This conference served as a platform for knowledge sharing, collaboration, and networking with a wide range of international organisations and individuals. 3ie provided 11 bursaries for the event. Click on the session titles for highlights from each session.

Venue: Sofitel Hotel, Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire 

Start Date: 11 March 2019 End Date: 15 March 2019
3ie at the 9th AfrEA International Conference 2019

Click on the dates for details on 3ie’s participation

How to improve the capacity training you provide or receive

Facilitators: Candice Morkel, CLEAR-AA; Rose Namara, Uganda Management Institute; Sunet Jordaan, Africa Centre for Evidence

We also organised a workshop on improving capacity development approaches using adult learning principles. Facilitators provided an overview of the main concepts underpinning the value of using adult learning approaches, and use examples of real-life applications with lessons about how to improve participant selection, training, implementation, monitoring, evaluation and learning. Participants had a chance to apply their learning to an evaluation capacity development scenario and discuss what worked and what does not.

Workshop on improving evidence uptake and use: how to monitor, measure and report evidence impact

Facilitators: Kanika Jha, 3ie

3ie’s Kanika Jha Kingra conducted a workshop on monitoring and measuring evidence use. Participants were particularly interested in how we have been using contribution tracing, the value of this approach and how to integrate it in their work. They highlighted challenges that decision makers face in using evidence. Other challenges identified were poor reporting requirements for grantees, lack of incentives to engage with implementing partners, shifting organisational priorities, and limited capacity among M&E staff to rigorously measure evidence use reported by grantees. They also discussed challenges in engaging with key powerful stakeholders who may create barriers to prevent the uptake and use of evidence.

Over 20 participants, including staff from international and national NGOs, UN agencies, national ministries, as well as university researchers attended.  

Panel on building evidence on agricultural innovations

Panellists: Mark Engelbert, 3ie; Zeba Siddiqui, 3ie; Robert Osei, Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research, University of Ghana

Mark Englebert presented findings from the agricultural innovations evidence gap map (see the report here). Geographically, there is a heavy concentration of evidence in Kenya, Ethiopia, India, and China and a lack of evidence on environmental outcomes, especially greenhouse gas emissions. He also provided an overview of the methodology and mapping’s role in the evidence ecosystem. The audience discussed particular methodological challenges in conducting rigorous impact evaluations in the agricultural sector, given issues like seasonality.

Zeba Siddiqui provided an overview of our Agricultural Insurance Evidence Programme, and shared findings on gaps in existing evidence on agricultural risk mitigation. She also shared lessons and challenges from 14 formative evaluations focused on increasing the uptake of agricultural insurance. This was followed by a discussion on formative evaluations, their geographical scope, key lessons, and challenges encountered. Members of the audience were particularly interested in our efforts to ensure that ongoing impact evaluations are gender responsive. Over 30 researchers and policymakers attended the panel presentations.  

The state of impact evaluation in West Africa Economic and Monetary Union countries: a scoping study report

3ie at the 9th AfrEA International Conference 2019Presenters: Anca Dumitrescu, 3ie; Deo-Gracias Houndolo, 3ie

3ie staff presented a poster describing the findings from upcoming scoping study on evaluation capacity and opportunities in West Africa.