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4th Regional Conference of Evaluators in the Western Balkans and Southeast Europe held

Relevant events / 26-11-2021

This year in an online format, regional evaluation professionals attended the 4th bi-annual conference to exchange their experiences and reflect on the evaluation practices

On 24th November 2021, the 4th Regional Conference of Evaluators in the Western Balkans and Southeast Europe was organized by the West Balkan Evaluation Network (WBEN). The continuation of these bi-annual conferences further facilitated the promotion of the evaluation practices as well as provided a fertile ground for the exchange of ideas and experiences among the professionals and evaluation contractors in the region. In collaboration with WBEN, the conference was hosted in Skopje, North Macedonia, by the Macedonian Evaluation Network (MEN), Management Consulting Association (MCA 2000) and University of Tourism and Management Skopje – Institute of Business and Management (UTMS/IBM). Due to COVID-19 crisis, the conference was held online allowing all interested professionals to participate without restrictions.

The one-day program was rather ambitious with 19 evaluation experts presenting challenges and lessons learnt related to evaluation practice withing the following topic:

  1. Effective approaches to evaluation, methodologies and designs;
  2. Evaluation practices and its challenges in uncertain times, such as COVID-19;
  3. Evaluation processes in the educational sector;
  4. Evaluation and other aspects of implementing evaluation processes.

Furthermore, the program included two panel discussions:

  1. Panel 1: Role of voluntary organizations of professional evaluation in building national evaluation capacities in Balkan region;
  2. Panel 2: Evaluation professionalization – state of play in Balkan region.

The evaluation experts who presented at the conference came from various sectors including private organizations specializing in evaluation, academic institutions, international organizations and financial institutions, non-governmental organizations, professional networks etc., sharing their unique experiences in the region. We were proud to have an opportunity to share our experiences as well. Maja Horvat, the MAP’s CEO, presented the challenges and lessons learnt during the evaluation of the Operational Programme Efficient Human Resources and ESF interventions in Croatia according to the criteria of regional and local representation and horizontal principles, commissioned by the Ministry of Work, Pension System, Family and Social Policy of the Republic of Croatia. The next opportunity to meet and share professional evaluation experiences on the regional level is awaited on the next conference to be held in 2023, this time in Slovenia.