https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYqj3yLDisE

The MPhil Programme in Development Practice at Ambedkar University, Delhi has been started in collaboration with a developmental sector organisation called PRADAN. It is an innovative experiment where a University and a development sector agent have come together to join hands and re-think the regular structure of 'development' courses and 'discourses' imparted through rural…

Kathmandu Conclave

February’ 2013

 1.       Background

Not talking much on this international event let me concentrate more towards the learning and my future plan derived from this international gathering held in Kathmandu, Nepal.

Within the series of parallel sessions, it was really a challenge to chose and attend only one session within a time frame. But as per the interest I opted mostly to…

Engendering Policy through Evaluation, Institute of Social Studies Trust, New Delhi

Supported by IDRC and Ford Foundation

Call for proposals:

Feminist approaches to evaluation seek to unpack the nature of gender and social inequalities and further see evaluation as a political activity, itself part of a change process. There is relatively little literature on feminist evaluation, and our objective is to help build the field by supporting research on Design, Methods, Process,…

In our daily work routines most of us tend to get so occupied with jumping from one task to another, meeting deadlines and producing deliverables, that we rarely get a chance to take a step back and think about what we’re doing and how we could do it better, and somewhere the purpose begins to get lost. Given this reality, the Evaluation Conclave provided not only a much needed opportunity to reflect on our evaluation experiences, but with all the informed and stimulating sessions, also a…

Institute of Social Studies Trust (ISST) in association with the Heinrich Böll Stiftung organizes Gender and Economic Policy (GEP) Discussion Forums to provide an opportunity to economists, policy makers and gender advocates to discuss and critique economic policy from a gender lens in a structured manner. Organized once in two months, the focus of the forums is on contemporary issues, such as the links between gender and Foreign Direct Investment. This is the second year of the discussion…

It was really a nice moment for me when the participation in the Evaluation Conclave was confirmed and I have started to initiate thinking on how best I could learn from the Conclave as well as could contribute both personal and ‘Feminist evaluation’ experience.

For me, it was the first time to be part of this type of colossal Conclave, which would discuss, learn, think and plan only on Evaluation! The Conclave was designed in a way, so that maximum you can learn in a single Conclave,…

The VII Gender and Economic Policy Discussion forum, organized by the Institute of Social Studies Trust (ISST) in association with Heinrich Böll Stiftung, on the politics and economics of FDI through a gender lens was held at the India Habitat Centre on the 9th of April . Presentations were made by Ms. Ranja Sengupta (Third World Network), Dr. Arpita Mukherjee (ICRIER) and Ms. Anandi Venkateswaran (Govt. of India); chaired by Ms. Sarojini Ganju Thakur IAS (Retd.). The discussion revolved…

Gender a word which defines many thoughts regarding male & female. We define them more extensively on our ways. An individual defines it on his way, a group defines it on its way and society defines it on many ways. Today I am discussing a view and real incident regarding Gender Discrimination in our society. On an average near about 48% women are being harassed by women and rest by men. A recent incident become in our organisation; a girl named with Nazia admitted…

Thought some of you may be interested in this. 

Mayoux, L 2008, Steering Life's Rocky Road -Equal and Together, Gender Action Learning System, Core Manual, http://www.wemanresources.info/documents/Page2_GALS/SteeringLife'sRockyRoad.pdf

warm regards

Ranjani…

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…