Overview

9:00-10:30 NY time

Synopsis and Objectives

Despite children and young people accounting for half of the population of the African continent (UN 2018), the role assigned to them in society is often marginal (Upadhyay, 2006).That is reflected, too, in the way evaluators engage with children and young people during their field assignments. Children are often the objects of field investigation whereas adults (e.g., caregivers and teachers) are often the ones telling evaluators how children feel about or benefit from the project or program under evaluation. However, in light of the complexity and messiness of the reality which we live in and the repeated calls to fulfil the Sustainable Development Agenda 2030, some profound changes in the current evaluation thinking and practice are inevitable (Lansdown & O'Kane, 2014). It is now time that children and young people advocated to adults for more environmental sustainability and more inclusive participation in decision-making processes. The webinar will provide a succinct review of innovative methodological approaches that have enhanced children’s and young people’s ability globally to “shine their lights” and “make their voice heard" in evaluation. This EPE will stress that the need for engaging children in evaluation is double fold: it is, first, an obligation to fulfill universal rights that are spelled out in international normative documents; and it is, too, a vehicle to let a large number of legitimate users and expected beneficiaries of public programs to inform the development of new policies and public interventions (Childwatch, 2008; Save the Children 2017).

Learning Objectives

By the end of the panel, participants will not only learn about methods that they could either use themselves or have their contractors use while engaging with children and young people in evaluation but they will also be equipped with cogent arguments to use with peers and partners on why engaging with children and young people in evaluation grants evaluations more face validity, by also increasing the legitimacy of the findings and conclusions pertaining to children and young people (UNICEF, 2019; Velure & Baizerman, 2018; Rossion, 2015).

Facilitator: Michele Tarsilla, PhD. UNICEF Regional Evaluation Adviser for West and Central Africa Email: mtarsilla@unicef.org

Link to connect

Event Details