The Development Review is an international Journal aimed at bringing the voices from the grassroots. It is a scholarly open access, peer-reviewed, interdisciplinary,  journal focusing on theories, methods and applications in the development sector.  It is published quarterly. Specific focus of the journal would be on the following subjects.

• Poverty
• Gender in…

About the Organization:

The Development CAFE is a registered nonprofit organization  aimed at enhancing information and communications technology (ICT) skills for development professionals, scientists, researchers and students  aroundthe world.  DevCAFE'S  Professional Development for Development Professionals (PDDP) program aims to expand delivery of ICT skills todevelopment professionals  in formats that meet the unique needs of…

I was very fortunate to attend the Evaluation Conclave in Nepal under the project Engendering Policy through Evaluation hosted by Institute of Social Studies Trust. Participatory approaches, evaluation and strength-based approaches- these are what excite me in my work. Therefore, during the Conclave I decided to pick up the workshops on these topics to strengthen my skills.

With increased emphasis on the…

Institute of Applied Manpower Research (IAMR), a government institute, Delhi, India invited me to facilitate a session on strength-based approach and evaluation. IAMR is conducting a three month course on Monitoring and Evaluation for international students.

Strength-based approaches…

Appreciative Inquiry and Evaluation (AIAE) is a recent development in the evaluation realm. The AIAE focuses on root causes of what worked, why it worked and how it worked. The evaluation results are used right way for revisiting vision/goal/objective, redefining strategy and refining plan of work of programme being evaluated. As the evaluation results are used right way to improve the programme, this evaluation enhances the use of evaluation.…

Attending the Kathmandu Conclave: Feb 26-March 1, 2013

Since I reached on the 26^th afternoon, I missed Katherine's opening keynote, (but have since viewed this on the Conclave youtube and although its not the same, I can see why it was so much appreciated!). What I did attend on the 26^th/ was the workshop on Appreciative Enquiry, also on 27th. (Ganapati Ojha and Ram Chandra Lamichchane, also Tessie Tzavaras Catsambas). This approach as I understood it seeks to…

Dear All

I am pleased to inform you all that a toolkit is online now. The toolkit "Equal Access Participatory Monitoring and Evaluation Toolkit" is guided by the principles of the Communication for Social Change approach to C4D and participatory monitoring and evaluation (PM&E). This toolkit aims to help communication for development (C4D) organisations to demonstrate the impacts and outcomes of their…

Equity focused evaluation

Marco Segone, Michael Bamberger, and Urs Nagel

What does equity mean?

The concept of equity is based on notions of fairness and justice, and refers to equitable outcomes. It needs to be distinguished from equally of opportunity.

Why is equity important?

The concept of equity is important due to several factors:

• Inequity constitutes a violation of human rights
• Has a…

I am glad that I had attended Opening Ceremony, keynote speech ‘Opportunities and Challenges for Participation in Evaluation’, ‘Participatory Approaches to Evaluating Communication for Development’, ‘ Innovative Directions  for Evaluation of Development, ‘The Cost of Inaction’ and ‘Learning and Participating the Evaluation Mantra in South Asia’.  The panels I had attended are: ‘It Takes Two to Tango: Translating Research into Policy’, ‘Feminist Evaluation’, ‘Fit for Purpose? Evaluations,…

ISWDS%20Final%20Report.docDear All 

I am attaching two interesting evaluation studies on MNREGS from a gender lens. The first is by Pankaj and Tanka. They argue that women's empowerment effects are visible where enough wage employment has been generated per women. In such instances changes are visible at the intra-household level gender dynamics, income-consumption effects.…

By Beverly Bell

March 8, 2013

On this International Women's Day, we rerun a 2005 piece on one of our greatest heroines, Marie Simone Alexandre. Though she died eight years ago, her life and message remain as powerful and inspirational today as any we know. 

"It was thanks to God and Sister Simone." I heard this over and over in the mid-1990s as I was interviewing rape survivors in one of Port-au-Prince's shantytowns. The women were battling the…

By Tory Field and Beverly Bell

“We, women from more than 40 countries, from different indigenous peoples of Africa, the Americas, Europe, Asia and Oceania, have gathered together to participate in the creation of a new right: the right to food sovereignty. We reaffirm our will to act to change the capitalist and patriarchal world which puts the interests of the market before the rights of people. We will find the energy to establish our right to food sovereignty, carrier of hope…