Results Measurement and Evidence Stream (RMES) Together 2018

The Results Measurement and Evidence Stream (RMES) held its annual meeting at World Bank HQ. The event theme was Results at the center: Rethinking how we manage for results. The objectives were to motivate WBG management and operation staff to focus on reuslts at the onset and throughout WBG operations, not only at the end; raise awareness of ongoing initiatives related to results management across WBG; and enhance WBG staff's knowledge and technical skills in results management. The GEF Independent Evaluation Office participated in two sessions as well as partake in a booth exhibit at the Results Fair.

1. Evaluating Transformational Change Approaches, Lessons and Experiences from Climate and Environmental Funds | Download Presentation

Presenters: Joseph Dickman, Senior Evaluation Officer, Climate Change | Svetlana Negroustoueva, Consultant, Climate Change | Kazi Fateha Ahmed, Environmental Specialist, Climate Change | Kseniya Temnenko, Knowledge Management Officer, GEF IEO.

Facilitators: Geeta Batra, Chief Evaluation Officer, GEF IEO.

Session Objective:

• Share lessons and experiences evaluating transformational change in the context of climate and environmental finance
• Increase collective learning by showcasing a range of different approaches, methodologies, and techniques used to evaluate this heme in the Climate Investment Funds (CIF) and the Global Environment Facility (GEF).

Description: The increased volume and scale of climate change mitigation and adaptation finance and changes in environmental finance in recent years have enhanced the need fo revidence in form decision-making and demonstrate progress.

In 2015 the CIF Trust Fund Committees endorsed a proposal to impove the generation of knowledge from evaluation for learning through a special CIF Evaluation and Learning (E&L) Initiative. The E&L Initiative aims to identify strategic lessons from implementation to date and inform future decisions for its work and that of other climate finance insitutions. The CIF E&L Initiative Buisness Plan identifies four priority learning themes, with particular focus on transformational change.

The GEF is the only public international institution that addresses global environmental issues beyond climate change. The Evaluation of GEF Support to Transformational Change, conducted by the IEO of the GEF, developed a framework for understanding the factors that influence transformative change and assessed a purposeful sample of GEF operations that have resulted in transformational impacts.

This session shared the experiences and lessons learned from the activities described above, to facilitate discussion and generate collective learning on exploring and evaluating transformational change in the field of climate and environmental finance, and innovatie governance ideas driving from this work.

2. Social Network Analysis (SNA): Get Through the Obstacles to Get it Done

Session Objective:

• Understand the added value of Social Network Analysis (SNA) to evaluations, as well as some of the challenges for using it.
• Identify when to use SNA and how to tackle common challenges when applying it in evaluations.

Description: SNA is an innovative technique to visualize and quantify invisible relationships among elements of a certain system. This session will provide examples of how SNA adds unique value to the evaluator's toolbox. It will also identify obstacles that prevent more professionals from taking advantage of SNA. Among the challenges are lack of reliable or appropriate data, manager support, and counterfactuals to assess impact. In this session, experts from IEG at the Bank and the Independent Evaluation Office of the GEF will share why they chose to use SNA, what challenges they have encountered, and how they have tackled these challenges. The two experts drew on their work assessing the health and transport sectors in Liberia and East Africa, transboundary environmental governance in East Asia, and the corporate networks of the Bank and GEF.

Presenters: Katsumasa Hamaguchi, Evaluation Officer, IEG | Jeneen Reyes Garcia, Evaluation Officer, GEF IEO.