AfDB Evaluation Week To Explore Ways Of Building More Resilient Africa

(AFRICAN EXAMINER) – This year’s edition of the African Development Bank Evaluation Week aims to will explore ideas on how governments and development partners can use evaluation evidence to inform decisions aimed at building a more resilient Africa.

This was disclosed in a statement made available to the media on Friday. The biennial knowledge conference scheduled to hold from 28-30 of September will be hosted by Independent Development Evaluation (IDEV) at the AfDB on the theme, ““Building a stronger and more resilient Africa”.

According to the statement, the flagship conference will discuss the quality, sustainability and longevity of interventions aimed at building Africa’s resilience to its key challenges.

“The Development Evaluation Week 2022 will feature six virtual sessions over three days. Participants will share ideas on how governments and development partners can use evaluation evidence to build a more resilient continent. All sessions are open to journalists”, the statement added.

It will feature six virtual sessions over three days. The opening plenary will be preceded by a workshop for young and emerging evaluators on 28 September, aiming to provide them with the tools, skills, and resources to further their expertise in evaluation.

The formal opening will be held at 2:00 pm, featuring a keynote address. This will be followed by a panel discussion on the role of evaluation in tackling Africa’s challenges, centered on leveraging evaluative evidence for project design, policies, and strategies.

The Bank’s High 5 priority objective to ‘Light up and Power Africa’ will be discussed on Thursday, 29 September. The session will explore using evaluative knowledge to support the development of power systems that are resilient to climate change and global shocks and do not contribute to global climate change. In addition, participants will look at cross-border sharing of power pools and power transmission to where it is most needed, including affordable last-mile connections in rural areas.

The afternoon will be dedicated to the Bank’s ‘Feed Africa’ priority objective. The session will commence with a keynote address on boosting agricultural productivity for enhanced food security and resilience, followed by a panel discussion focusing on the evidence surrounding the sustainability of increased food production and agricultural transformation.

The African Development Bank’s strategic focus on reducing the debt burden and improving economic resilience will be the key topic on Friday, 30 September. Discussants will share their experiences of approaches taken by governments and international financial institutions. The session will also look at lessons from past debt management practices, informed by evaluation evidence, that can inform interventions to strengthen economic resilience in African countries.

The afternoon will focus on the High 5s priority to improve African people’s lives, with a session on lessons from interventions targeting vulnerable groups to enhance human development. The keynote address will look at the impact of the recession and the inequality gap on jobs, youth, and Africa’s demographic dividend.

Following the keynote, a panel discussion will share evaluative knowledge and explore evidence-based approaches to fostering sustained and inclusive human development.