Colombo, Sri Lanka | May 27-30, 2025
In the world of international development, evaluation is often treated as a post-implementation formality, a box to be ticked, a report to be filed. But what if we reimagined evaluation not as an afterthought, but as a compass? What if, instead of simply measuring what happened, we used evaluation to understand why it happened, for whom it worked, and how we can do better?
These questions were at the heart of Evaluation Conclave 2025, a global gathering in Colombo, Sri Lanka, that brought together evaluators, policymakers, and practitioners under the powerful theme: “Future-Ready Evaluation – Integrating Voices and Localizing Evaluation for Global Impact.”
GRAAM was proud to be part of this important conversation, partnering with the Indian School of Development Management (ISDM) to co-host a critical panel discussion that challenged conventional approaches to evaluation and called for a more grounded, contextual, and participatory practice.
Why This Conclave Mattered
Evaluation Conclave 2025 wasn’t just another conference. It was a space for honest reflection, uncomfortable questions, and collective reimagining of how evaluation can serve the communities it’s meant to support.
The event brought together diverse voices from across the globe, from the Community of Evaluators – South Asia to the UNFPA Independent Evaluation Office, EvalYouth Global Network, and the International Organization for Cooperation in Evaluation (IOCE), all united by a shared commitment: making evaluation more inclusive, context-driven, and future-ready.
Day 1: Building Skills, Setting the Tone
The Conclave opened on May 27 with skill-building workshops that covered a range of critical topics:
- The Power of Evaluation for a Fair, Sustainable World
- Youth for Evaluation
- Value for Money in Evaluations
These sessions emphasized that evaluation isn’t just a technical exercise—it’s a tool for justice, accountability, and transformative change.
The evening’s grand inauguration featured a powerful keynote by Hon. Dr. Harini Amarasuriya, Prime Minister of Sri Lanka, who captured the essence of what evaluation should be:
“Evaluation, when embedded into the program life cycle, is not just a tool, it becomes a compass. It enables course correction, ensures that policies are grounded in credible evidence, and most importantly, helps us stay accountable to those who need support the most.”
These words set the stage for two days of deep dialogue about how evaluation can and must evolve.
Day 2: The GRAAM x ISDM Panel – “Building Evaluation Systems and Capacities to Leverage Context”
On May 28, GRAAM and ISDM co-hosted one of the Conclave’s most thought-provoking sessions: “Building Evaluation Systems and Capacities to Leverage Context – A Way Forward.”
The panel brought together distinguished voices from across the evaluation community to wrestle with a deceptively simple question: What does “context” really mean in evaluation, and why do we so often get it wrong?
The Panelists
Prof. Reinhard Stockmann (Centre for Evaluation – CEval, Germany)
Mr. Khilesh Chaturvedi (Evaluation Expert)
Ms. Soma De Silva (Development Practitioner)
Dr. Basavaraju R Shreshta (Executive Director, GRAAM)
The Core Challenge: Context Isn’t a Variable—It’s the Foundation
Dr. Basavaraju R Shreshta opened with a provocation that resonated throughout the session:
“Often, important nuances of context are lost when standard evaluation methodologies are applied without adaptation. This diminishes the relevance and usability of findings.”
He went further, emphasizing that to be used, evaluation must first be usable and to make it usable, context matters.
This isn’t an academic quibble. When evaluators parachute into communities with predetermined frameworks, checklists, and standardized tools, they risk missing the very dynamics that determine whether a program succeeds or fails.
As Prof. Stockmann pointed out, using the example of a health program: recognizing that mothers may prefer traditional healers over clinical care isn’t just interesting cultural context—it’s a critical variable that shapes program outcomes.
“Context matters, but how we define and engage with it depends on the evaluation’s objective and the realities on the ground. Evaluation can help create a better plan. Evaluation can help create a better world.”
Humility as a Professional Practice
One of the session’s most powerful insights came from Dr. Basavaraju R Shreshta’s call for humility as a core evaluator competency:
“Before entering the field, evaluators must wear the hat of ‘I don’t know,’ and approach communities as active listeners.”
This challenges the traditional power dynamics of evaluation, where external “experts” arrive with frameworks and communities are expected to provide data. What if instead, evaluators entered communities as learners? What if the community’s own understanding of what works, what doesn’t, and why was treated as the starting point rather than an afterthought?
Mr. Khilesh Chaturvedi reinforced this point by emphasizing stakeholder ownership:
“Evaluation is most powerful when people own it. Stakeholder engagement isn’t a checkbox—it’s a core driver of meaningful, actionable outcomes. When stakeholders are part of the process, they’re not just vetting recommendations—they’re shaping the path forward.”
From Findings to Action: The Usability Gap
Ms. Soma De Silva brought a critical practitioner’s lens to the discussion, highlighting a gap that plagues the development sector: evaluation reports that gather dust on shelves instead of driving change.
“Evaluation is of no use if it is not used, if it does not help solve social problems and make a difference to the lives of people.”
She stressed the pressing need to develop the capacities of people and governments to effectively use evaluation findings. This requires:
- Institutional practices that embed evaluation into decision-making
- User competencies that enable stakeholders to interpret and apply findings
- Evaluator competence that ensures quality, relevance, and accessibility of evaluations
Her message was clear: Evaluators should engage people meaningfully from the very beginning, continue through the process, and involve them even at the end—so that communities can use evaluation outcomes to improve their own lives.
Systemic Shifts Needed
The panel identified several urgent needs for transforming evaluation practice:
1. Communitize the Monitoring Process
We must work to ensure that monitoring is continuous, grounded, and realistically limits reliance on external actors. Communities should be active stakeholders in evaluation thinking, not just passive recipients of findings.
2. Balance Scale and Context
Contextual relevance should not be sacrificed for broad generalizability. The push for “scalable” solutions often steamrolls the local realities that determine success or failure.
3. Allocate Resources for Participatory Evaluation
Truly participatory evaluation requires time, trust-building, and dedicated resources. It cannot be an add-on; it must be built into program design and budgets from the start.
4. Professionalize Through Education
Universities play a key role in shaping the future of evaluation. There is a strong call for postgraduate programs in evaluation and greater collaboration between academia and practitioners. The role of “professors of practice” will be key to nurturing contextually grounded evaluation capacities.
The Road Ahead: Evaluation as Liberation, Not Just Accountability
What emerged from this session—and indeed, from the entire Conclave—was a vision of evaluation not as a tool of external oversight, but as a practice of collective learning and empowerment.
Future-ready evaluation means:
- Starting with humility, not assumptions
- Centering community voices, not external frameworks
- Building capacity for evaluation use, not just evaluation production
- Recognizing that context isn’t noise to be controlled—it’s signal to be understood
As Dr. Shreshta reminded us: A balance between scale and context is essential. And as the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka eloquently stated, evaluation should be a compass, not just a report card.
The discussions at Evaluation Conclave 2025 are just the beginning. As we return from Colombo, the real work lies ahead: translating these insights into practice, building evaluation systems that truly serve communities, and ensuring that our work contributes to a fairer, more sustainable world.
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#EvalConclave2025 #Eval4Action #GRAAMatEvalConclave #ISDMxGRAAM #FutureOfEvaluation #ContextInEvaluation #CommunityVoices
