Sustainability-inclusive evaluations in agriculture: Exploring opportunities for collaboration
Panel Discussion | Online
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Organized by:
EvalforEarth CoP
- In partnership with: The Footprint Evaluation
About the Event
This session will explore how EvalforEarth’s four participating global agencies (CGIAR, WFP, GEF and FAO), in collaboration with Footprint Evaluation, could benefit from co-creating sustainability-inclusive frameworks and tools that could be used to evaluate their contributions to overlapping intended outcomes—ending hunger and promoting sustainable agriculture. The panel will identify specific frameworks and tools that would be most useful, and ideas for how these might be collaboratively funded and developed in ways that foster cross-organizational capacity development and scalable impact. The goal: actionable strategies to ensure evaluations systematically assess agriculture’s contributions to people and planet.
Speakers
| Name | Title | Biography |
|---|---|---|
| Juha Uitto, PhD | Independent Environment and Evaluation Advisor and Visiting Scholar at the Environmental Law Institute | Former Director of the Independent Evaluation Office (IEO) of the Global Environment Facility (2014-2024), has extensive experience in international cooperation evaluations, focusing on environmental management and poverty-environment linkages. He has held positions at UNU, Nordic Africa Institute, and IFAD, and holds a PhD in Social and Economic Geography. |
| Andy Rowe, PhD | Co-Founder, Footprint Evaluation Initiative | A Fellow and former president of the Canadian Evaluation Society (CES), now focusing on environmental sustainability. Andy initiated CES’s effort to mainstream sustainability in evaluation in Canada; is a founder of Footprint Evaluation and former member of the Technical Evaluation Reference Group for the Adaptation Fund. |
| E. Jane Davidson, PhD | Co-Founder, Footprint Evaluation Initiative | Jane is best known for developing evaluation rubrics methodology. In 2019, she received AEA’s Paul F. Lazarsfeld Evaluation Theory Award. As a founder of Footprint Evaluation, she develops practical tools and methodologies to include sustainability and equity in all evaluations. |
| Thomaz K. Chianca, PhD | Core Team Member, Footprint Evaluation Initiative | Thomaz’s work over the past 25+ years focuses mostly on (i) enhancing the impact and learning capacities of philanthropic, government, international development, NGO and corporate clients, and (ii) collaborating with the FEI in its crusade to include environmental sustainability in all evaluations. |
| Catrina Perch | Evaluation Manager for the Evaluation of WFP’s Environmental Policy | Catrina has over 20 years’ experience of managing and conducting evaluations at a number of UN agencies (including IFAD, UNEP and UNDP). Additionally, she has experience working as an independent evaluation consultant. Her focus has been on food security, rural development, environment, and inclusion issues. With a background in environmental planning and political science, she has made contributions in the field of resilience, natural resources, poverty and environment, gender, and pastoral development. |
| Svetlana Negroustoueva | Lead, Evaluation Function, The Independent Advisory and Evaluation Service, CGIAR | TBA |
| Mr.Fabrizio Felloni | Chief Evaluation Officer - Deputy Director of the Independent Evaluation Office of the GEF. | Fabrizio Felloni was previously Deputy Director at the Independent Office of Evaluation of IFAD in Rome (2016-2024) and, earlier, a Lead Evaluation Officer in the same office (2010-2016). He was an Evaluation Specialist at the Independent Evaluation Office of the United Nations Development Programme in New York (2008-2010) and a consultant and an Evaluation officer at IFAD (2000-2007). In over twenty years of evaluation experience, he has led project, country level, subregional, thematic and corporate-level evaluations and worked in more than 25 countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America and Eastern Europe. He holds a Master’s degree in Agricultural Economics from Washington State University (USA) and a Master-equivalent degree in Social and Economic Sciences from Bocconi University (Italy). He is the author and co-author of over a dozen articles published in books and peer-reviewed journals. |
| Luisa Belli | Evaluation Manager- FAO-OED | TBA |
Moderators
| Name | Title | Biography |
|---|---|---|
| Innocent Chamisa | EvalforEarth CoP Coordinator | International development professional with 10+ years of experience in agricultural policies and programs. Strong interdisciplinary background, skilled in managing projects, leveraging technology for food security, and fostering collaboration. Fluent in English and French. FAO award recipient for policy coordination and sustainable agriculture. |