EvalPartners has teamed up with Universalia to launch the EvalStory campaign.  Starting 20th August, EvalStory releases two videos per week presenting messages from top evaluation influencers and members of the wider evaluation community to ensure that the voices of evaluation advocates are heard. We hope you enjoy their messages, wisdom and experience. Please share videos with your networks to ensure their voices are heard globally. You are also welcome to create your own EvalStories and share with own networks to promote evaluation culture specially to encourage young and emerging evaluators around the world. 

Also we are happy to note the successful parliamentarians meetings held in Bangkok and Panama for East Asia and Latin America regions respectively. Parliamentarians meeting in MENA region will be held in October in Cairo. These are important milestones in engaging parliamentarians in evaluation for enabling environment.

Marco Segone and Natalia Kosheleva, Co-chairs

The Parliamentarians Forum for Development Evaluation in collaboration with UNICEF, UN Women, UNEG, UNDP, EvalPartners and IOCE organized two pioneer Face to Face Meetings in East Asia and in Latin America leading towards the establishment of Parliamentarians Forums for Development Evaluation in two regions. These activities are part of the preparations towards the launching of the Global Parliamentarians Forum for Development Evaluation in Kathmandu in November this year.
The first meeting was held in Bangkok in August 10th and 11th 2015; and the second was in Panama in September 17th and 18th. Both meetings had an audience made of Parliamentarians, Government officials, UN staff and representatives from Voluntary Organizations for Professional Evaluations (VOPEs). Special thanks to sponsors particularly UNICEF who provided financial support for core expenses of the meetings in addition to sponsoring participants. This group photo is from the meeting held in Bangkok.

The Australasian Evaluation Society 2015 International Evaluation Conference ‘Reaching across boundaries’, held in Melbourne, Australia on 7-9 September 2015, was an International Year of Evaluation torch event. The sessions involved 530 delegates from 20 nations and demonstrated that evaluators go across geographic, disciplinary and cultural borders. This conference encouraged and featured emerging evaluators and had a strong Indigenous focus, as well as celebrating EvalYear 2015. Young and emerging evaluators inspired the more seasoned evaluators and Indigenous evaluators from Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Samoa and Tonga reminded us that when crossing boundaries, we need to do so with cultural sensitivity and humility.

As President of the Australasian Evaluation Society (AES), it is a privilege to hold this position during the International Year of Evaluation. This year reminds that we have a responsibility to share our experiences and history with our more emergent evaluation societies. Even for a society with a long history, there are significant cultural differences across our region that requires commissioners of evaluation and evaluators to conduct their evaluations sensitive to cultural nuances. To this end, our two Indigenous Board members are working carefully to develop 'evaluation cultural protocols' to assist both Indigenous and non-Indigenous evaluations to operate in culturally appropriate ways.

Lyn Alderman, AES President

Sri Lanka Evaluation Association held its 5th Biennial International Conference in Colombo from 15-18 September as part of the International Year of Evaluation 2015. The picture shows Mrs. Darshana Senanayake, Director General, Department of Project Management and Monitoring (DPMM) under the Ministry of Finance address the inauguration. The conference was participated by international participants, government officers, evaluators and the private sector. The conference was concluded with the session on National Evaluation Policy bringing South African experience to the table. Sri Lanka has a draft policy and DPMM plans process towards endorsement of the policy by the government. 

The Asia Pacific Evaluation Association (APEA) is the newest regional VOPE.  It had its inaugural launch in September 2012 and an Interim Management Board was elected.  In July 2013, APEA was legally registered in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, where APEA is now headquartered. APEA held a virtual election in July, 2015 to elect its first official Management Board for next two years. The new President is Arunaselam Rasappan representing MES. Among the key activities that the APEA hopes to undertake in the coming months are as follows: (1) Membership drive; (2) Fund raising; (3) First Regional Evaluation Conference in 2016; (4) Representation in IOCE and EvalPartners; (5) Evaluation Standards for Asia-Pacific Region; (6) Advocacy among member countries for institutionalization of evaluation; (7) Initiatives towards Professionalization of Evaluation; (8) Evaluation Capacity Building for member VOPEs.

For more information, please contact the Secretary at:  admin@asiapacific-evaluation.org