Impact assessment workshop draws participants from 10 countries

Participants from Myanmar, Bangladesh and Nepal during the workshop

Helping to develop ‘evaluation’ champions

A workshop on social science concepts and tools for technology evaluation and impact assessments held in the Philippines has contributed to creating an impact/evaluation culture in a wide range of agricultural research institutions.

Eighteen collaborators from 10 countries (Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Pakistan, the Philippines, Nepal, and Vietnam) took part in the two-week workshop, including 9 people working on ACIAR-funded projects.

The workshop was coordinated by Dr Sushil Pandey and Ludy Velasco of the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) with ACIAR’s Impact Assessment Research Program Manager, Dr Debbie Templeton. It was held at IRRI headquarters in Los Banos from the 24 November to 4 December 2009.

Hands-on exercises

Participants gained the knowledge and skills to enable them to undertake social and economic evaluations of prospective technologies and to assess the economic impact of completed agricultural research projects.

They took part in hands-on exercises to help them apply the concepts and use the tools in conducting impact assessments in their home institutions. Meeting with farmers and other locals from Tubuan village in Pila, Laguna, and conducting focus group discussions, also gave participants an understanding of local concerns and similarities with farmers' concerns in their respective countries.

Dr Templeton said the workshop set out to develop an impact/evaluation culture within the individuals who took part so that they may be evaluation ‘champions’ in their institutions.

ACIAR impact assessments

ACIAR has a long history of assessing the impact of its research and development investments, which provides valuable lessons for improving the selection, design and delivery of projects, as well as demonstrating the value of ACIAR as part of Australia’s international development assistance program.

IRRI: http://irri.org