USAID Call for Papers/Presenters

CALL FOR ABTRACTS

THE SECOND ANNUAL EVALUATION LEARNING SYMPOSIUM, HANOI, VIETNAM, AUGUST 22, 2017

In 2016, The United States Agency for International Development in Vietnam (USAID/Vietnam), in partnership with several other donors, successfully organized the First Annual Evaluation Learning Symposium in Hanoi, Vietnam. The symposium represented a new and interactive forum for participants to share evaluation findings from across various sectors and programs with the broader monitoring and evaluation (M&E) community in Vietnam. The development community in Vietnam displayed substantial demand and interest in collective evaluation sharing with 185 people representing government agencies, donors, academic institutions, and non-governmental organizations attending the event.

This year, USAID/Vietnam is partnering with the Canadian Embassy, United Nations Development Program (UNDP), Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), and Catholic Relief Services (CRS) to organize the Second Annual Evaluation Learning Symposium. Specific details of the event are listed below:

The purpose of the second annual evaluation learning symposium is to:

• promote learning through sharing evaluation findings and recommendations,

• strengthen the network of evaluation and development practitioners in Vietnam, and

• further build the capacity of M&E practitioners in Vietnam.

WHEN: Tuesday, August 22, 2017, 8:00 – 17:00

WHERE: TBD

THEMES

The symposium is intended to address the following issues:

Theme 1: Using Evidence for Adaptive Development Management (morning session) The session includes presentations and discussions on the key evaluation findings and how the findings were utilized to adjust subsequent programming from selected evaluations in the following sectors:

• Economic Governance and Growth

• Climate Change

• Education

• Gender Equality

• Health/Disability

• Other development areas

Theme 2: Evaluation Approaches and Methodologies (afternoon session) In this session, presenters will share experiences using standard methods to evaluate development programs and provide an introduction to new and innovative methods. Topics to be presented and discussed:

• Use of standard evaluation methods

• Utilizing a Systems approach to evaluations

• Use of technology in evaluations

• Integrating gender and other cross-cutting issues into evaluations

• Other new and innovative approaches to program learning

TARGETED AUDIENCES

• M&E practitioners and development managers

• Government managers and officials working with donor funded projects

• Researchers and staff from academic institutions

• International and local NGOs/CSOs

• Representatives from multilateral institutions

SUBMISSION OF ABSTRACT

For those interested in presenting during one of the sessions, you are invited to submit a high-quality abstract that summarizes either:

(1) key results from recently-conducted (in 2016 or 2017) evaluations in the sectors of interest

(Theme 1), or

(2) discusses topics related to evaluation approach and methodology (Theme 2).

Specific guidelines for anticipated abstracts:

Theme 1: Submitted abstracts should not exceed 300 words (title excluded). The abstract should contain the following: title and authors (with affiliations), background/objectives, methods, key findings,

conclusions and recommendations, and utilization of evaluation results (how did the findings help to improve subsequent program design and implementation).

Theme 2: Submitted abstracts should not exceed 300 words (title excluded). The abstract should contain the following: title and authors (with affiliations), issues, approach, description of proposed methods, and lessons learned (or example of using proposed method in evaluation).

All abstracts should be submitted via email to [email protected] and must state in the subject line “Abstracts Submission- Evaluation Learning Symposium” by Close of Business Day, July 21, 2017.

Notifications of acceptance of submitted abstracts will be emailed directly to the authors. Abstracts can be accepted for either oral presentations or poster presentations. Authors can request their preferred mode of presentation (oral or poster) when submitting abstracts. Specific guidelines for oral presentations and poster displays will be sent out after the final selection of abstracts. Accepted abstracts will be printed and handed out to all symposium participants.

Authors that are accepted for oral presentations will be reimbursed for travel and lodging costs and provided a per diem if s/he is from provinces/cities other than Hanoi.

SCHEDULE

Activity Timeline                                                                         Dates

Deadline for abstract submission                                                  July 21, 2017

Abstract acceptance announcement                                              July 31, 2017

Registration begins                                                                       August 7, 2017

Deadline for final presentations and posters submission              August 15, 2017

Evaluation learning symposium event day                                   August 22, 2017

Vietnamese Version