GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
Session 5: Empowering & Facilitating States through M&E Practices and Shared Experiences
In Session 5, representatives from central and state governments, as well as academia, came together to discuss Empowering & Facilitating States through M&E Practices and Shared Experiences. They had a productive conversation about the challenges of strengthening the evaluation ecosystem at the state level and sharing best practices and opportunities for collaboration.
Firstly, Hon’ble Member Dr. V. K. Saraswat provided a detailed overview of NITI Aayog's M&E initiatives, such as DMEO and the State Support Mission, emphasizing the importance of involving states in identifying and applying best practices.
Prof. Satish Agnihotri from CTARA, IIT Bombay, used the case of malnutrition in Odisha to illustrate the need for systematic sharing and adoption for scalability of best practices, and the importance of developing infrastructure for demand & recognition.
Sh. Antony Cyriac, in his introductory remarks, pointed out the need to expand the scope of the evaluation ecosystem in India beyond just assessing schemes and to focus more on quality and coordination.
Prof. Prasanna Tantri, representing ISB, emphasized the importance of high-quality evaluations leveraging academia for causal evaluations and the importance of descriptive statistics.
Dr S. Madheswaran (ISEC) gave us his perspective on national evaluation capacity using insights from Karnataka’s experience and how the evaluation capacity matrix was incorporated into the Karnataka evaluation authority.
Conclusion:
The session explored the need for expansion in the scope of evaluation to include salaries, administrative expenses, etc., and also to ensure quality in the evaluation findings and reports. The states of Odisha and Karnataka serve as replicable examples of best practices that could be emulated by other states as well as the center. The session concluded positively, with engaging audience interaction and fruitful exchanges with the esteemed panelists.