CLEAR South Asia Hosts Virtual Training on “Measuring the Impact of Environment, Energy and Climate Action Innovations”

While there has been much technological innovation targeting improved access to energy, increased energy efficiency and adaptation to climate change, there remain gaps in understanding the effectiveness of these innovations in real-world settings. Several of CLEAR South Asia’s partners have highlighted a knowledge gap that hinders regional stakeholders in taking evidence-informed decisions in the energy, environment, and climate action space. Partners indicated that the knowledge gap mainly consisted of a limited grasp of foundational tools (like needs assessments, logical frameworks, and theories of change), skills to monitor and measure outcomes, and skills to analyze and interpret results.

In alignment with GEI’s focus on Climate Change and Environmental Sustainability, this invite-only workshop was developed to shed light on pertinent questions around human behavior, the complexities around adoption of new technology in real-world settings, and the scaling-up of effective solutions in this space. The training also included a guest lecture from GEI partner Global Environment Facility (GEF) on “Evaluation for Sustainability Transitions,” that emphasized the need for a systems-based approach to evaluation. 

In alignment with GEI’s focus on Climate Change and Environmental Sustainability, this invite-only workshop was developed to shed light on pertinent questions around human behavior, the complexities around adoption of new technology in real-world settings, and the scaling up of effective solutions in this space. The training also included a guest lecture from GEI partner Global Environment Facility (GEF) on Evaluation for Sustainability Transitions that emphasized the need for a systems approach to evaluation. 

The workshop had 21 participants from government partners such as the Government of Tamil Nadu (Department of Evaluation and Applied Research) and NITI Aayog; donor groups such as Syngenta Foundation and Shakti Sustainable Energy Foundation; NGOs and international organizations such as UNICEF and UNDP; and, researchers from across India and Bhutan. Participants reported that the content of the workshop was informative and very useful for their current and future work, anticipating that they will be using evidence in future decision-making for programs and policies in the environment, energy, and climate action space.