From Bern to the World—Reimagining Evaluation Without Borders

From Bern to the World—Reimagining Evaluation Without Borders
As part of Glocal Evaluation Week 2025, the International Program for Development Evaluation Training hosted a session on how to make evaluation training more inclusive, contextual, and future-ready. The discussion highlighted diverse training programs supported by the Global Evaluation Initiative.
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20 June 2025

What does it take to make evaluation training more inclusive, contextual, and future-ready?

That was the central question explored at a  Glocal Evaluation Week 2025 panel hosted by the International Program for Development Evaluation Training (IPDET) on June 3. Titled "Evaluation Without Borders: Enhancing Regional Accessibility of Evaluation Training," the online event brought together representatives from institutions such as the World Bank, UNESCO, Islamic Development Bank, ClientEarth, CARE International, and public sector ministries in Peru and Uganda, as well as NGOs, universities, and independent consultants.

Organized by IPDET, in partnership with the Centre for Learning on Evaluation and Results for Anglophone Africa (CLEAR-AA) and the École nationale d'administration publique (ENAP)—implementing partners of the Global Evaluation Initiative (GEI)—the panel offered a space for reflection on the evolution of evaluation capacity development, and what it means to truly globalize access to evaluation learning.

The panel also brought together leading voices in evaluation capacity development. These were some of the highlights:

  • Dr. Candice Morkel, Head of Program at IPDET, framed the discussion with a look ahead to the July 2025 Bern program and IPDET’s broader trajectory. “We’re not just training evaluators—we’re equipping them to influence decisions, navigate complexity, and build resilient institutions,” she said, noting that IPDET is moving away from a once-a-year offering toward a year-round, globally accessible learning ecosystem.
  • Dr. Steven Masvaure, from CLEAR-AA, shared news of IPDET’s first in-person training in Africa, scheduled for Nairobi in November 2025. He emphasized that decentralization is not only about geography—it’s about creating opportunities for collaboration, affordability, and locally grounded solutions.
  • From ENAP, Louise Picard and Aref Ben Abdallah discussed their work leading IPDET’s French- and Arabic-language regional offerings: PIFED (for Francophone Africa) and TAQYEEM (in the Middle East and North Africa). They reflected on the need to adapt not only language, but also content and facilitation styles, to respond to diverse political, institutional, and cultural settings.
  • The event also included a reflection from Dr. Josephine Watera, a 2010 IPDET alumna, who described how the program had transformed her professional path. “IPDET wasn’t just a door—it was a gate,” she said. She spoke about the importance of building professional networks and called for deeper engagement with public-sector institutions and support for Made in Africa evaluation approaches.

Throughout the session, several themes emerged that reflect broader shifts in the field of evaluation training:

  • Local relevance matters. Evaluation training must move beyond one-size-fits-all models and engage with local languages, facilitators, and priorities.
  • AI is not replacing evaluators—but it is changing the landscape. Participants discussed how new technologies are reshaping how evidence is collected, analyzed, and communicated.
  • Technical skills are only part of the picture. Strategic communication, facilitation, and systems thinking are increasingly critical for evaluators working in complex environments.
  • Mentorship and demand-side engagement are essential. A growing number of public-sector actors are seeking evaluation capacity not only for implementing evaluations, but for using evidence in decision-making.

During the Q&A, participants emphasized the importance of financial accessibility and long-term mentorship. In response, panelists shared that scholarships for the upcoming Nairobi program have been redirected from Bern to increase inclusion.

With new in-region training in Nairobi (Anglophone Africa), ongoing delivery in Rabat through PIFED (Francophone Africa), and expanded programming via TAQYEEM across the MENA region, IPDET is moving toward a decentralized, regionalized model of evaluator training. This new direction reflects a deeper commitment to applied learning, regional partnerships, and more equitable access to evaluation capacity development.

Watch the session here.