Dr. Basavaraju R Shreshta, Executive Director of GRAAM, participated and delivered a talk in the prestigious Academic Symposium on Monitoring & Evaluation (M&E) Education 2024, held on 3rd December 2024 in Colombo, Sri Lanka. This esteemed event was organized by the Center for Evaluation at the University of Arizona Jayewardenepura, the Asia Pacific Evaluation Association, and the Consortium of Institutions on M&E Education in Asia Pacific. The symposium convened leading experts and academicians from across the globe to enhance the understanding and integration of M&E into the educational curricula of management, social sciences, and development studies.

During his address, Dr. Basavaraju emphasized the pressing need to integrate Monitoring & Evaluation (M&E) as a core focus within academic programs, particularly in management and social sciences. He highlighted:

• The increasing demand for robust evaluation skills to measure the effectiveness of development programs and interventions.
• The importance of incorporating M&E into curricula to enable future practitioners to assess outcomes effectively.
• The role of M&E in driving transparency and ensuring sustainable impacts across development initiatives.

Dr. Basavaraju’s insights enriched the discourse on bridging the gap between academic knowledge and field-based evaluation practices, fostering meaningful dialogue on the relevance of M&E education to real-world challenges.