One of the key aims of the Independent Evaluation Unit (IEU) is to provide rigorous, evidence-based evaluations that inform key result areas of GCF.
These include evaluations not just of impact, but also of GCF's processes. Indeed, real-time evaluations can help us become better and smarter. IEU’s real-time evaluations are 'on-the-go' and can be especially useful if we want to understand if the GCF is being effective as it goes along. They are also useful if we subsequently want to measure the transformative impact of GCF activities and its impact on catalysing shifts towards low-emission, climate-resilient pathways.
Evidence informed learning is one of IEU’s key objectives. We believe good robust evidence will help the GCF leapfrog into being better and smarter. While keeping this in mind, all of IEU's evaluations will also focus on assessing who has benefited from GCF’s activities and programmes, why, and whether GCF activities were conducted effectively and efficiently.
To inform these overall objectives, a few key evaluations will be IEU’s focus for 2018. IEU’s other objective will be to build its own capacity and strengthen its ability to provide strategic guidance and advice.
How can you help?
At the IEU, we are constantly thinking and planning around ‘learning’ and ‘evidence’. We are keen that you be involved.
You can be involved with the IEU by suggesting evaluations that help GCF become better, bigger and smarter. You can also be involved by asking how activities you are engaged in, might be better evaluated: Are the right programmes being planned? Are programmes and projects being implemented well? Is there a high-likelihood that they will deliver their expected impacts? Can we measure their potential impact? Are programmes cost-effective?
If these are questions you are interested in, please do get in touch with the IEU.
Our second newsletter provides a brief overview of our work over the three month period (15 September - 15 December, 2017). This has been an exciting eight months for the IEU. We are young but we are steadily building our plans and the office. Indeed, it’s the best time for you to engage with us and help us mold our strategy and work plans for the coming years. I say this too in this video interview that you may find interesting. Please get in touch with us at ieu@gcfund.org or get in touch with me at jpuri@gcfund.org. You can also follow us on Twitter: @GCF_Eval.
Wishing you a 2018 filled with ‘Trusted Evidence, Informed Policies and Greater Impact.’
Dr. Jo Puri,
Head of IEU, Green Climate Fund
International Conference on Evaluation Capacity Building in Turkey
The event attracted 25 people from across the developing world and four from from the Finnish and Norwegian evaluation agencies.
IEU Director, Jo Puri (2nd right) sits with other presenters at the National Evaluation Capacities Conference. In addition to developing partnerships to strengthen national evaluation systems, the Conference explored a range of issues surrounding how the Sustainable Development Goals will impact on the principles and practices of evaluation.
IEU Presentation at High-Profile Meeting on Risk & Resilience
The GCF was well represented by IEU at a major conference on resilience, risk and climate change, held in New Delhi India, September 15-16.
Participants at the New Delhi conference on 'The Resilience Continuum: Comprehensive Risk Management in the Face of Climate Change' shared examples of communities facing the risks of climate-related disasters. Discussions also focused on robust approaches to resilience that can be translated into pragmatic action with the participation of local communities.
IEU's Talk Series
The Independent Evaluation Unit's monthly Lunch Talks continue to attract GCF-wide interest. Audiences of 30 plus have been squeezing in to listen to global experts discuss an array of climate change and evaluation issues. Since their start in September 2017, IEU has hosted three sessions, all available for viewing from the links below.
On September 25, guest speaker Professor Suk-Won Lee, Executive Director for the Center for International Development Evaluation, discussed “How to Evaluate Policy Effects of Knowledge Sharing Programs?” Video part I, Video part II.
October 27Associate Professor Semee Yoon, from Sustainable Development and Cooperation at Underwood International College and the Graduate School of International Studies, Yonsei University,pose the question “Can sales of solar products and services be commercially viable business in poor rural communities?: Evaluative evidence from India”. Video part I.
On November 24, in the Division of Mitigation and Adaptation (DMA) and IEU hosted a lunch talk on climate information services, Dr. Joseph Intsiful, DMA’s Senior Climate Information and Early Warning Systems Specialist, and IEU’s Jo Puri examined “The ‘wicked’ problem of climate information: What works, what doesn’t and why?” Video part I. Video part II.
IEU's next lunch talk is on 26 January 2018! Details available via
GCF staff attend one of IEU's monthly Lunch Talks.
Engaging with IEU Partners and Stakeholders
Beijing, China 31 August – 1 September
The head of IEU delivered a public lecture titled ‘The Elusive E's: Evaluating policy effectiveness' at a talk hosted by the Head of the DFID office. The audience of more than 40 included staff from DFID, the Foreign Office, the British Council, as well as representatives from institutions such as the Newton Foundation, the Prosperity Foundation, USAID and others. Jo also held meetings with the Head of DFID, Dr. Roli Asthana and Mr. Shondeep Bannerjee of Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
Hangzhou, China 3 – 7 September 2017
Jo spoke about ‘Evaluating Complex and Chunky programs’ at a co-presentation with Jack Molyneaux, Head of evaluation and policy at the Millennium Challenge Corporation, and Dr. Emmanuel Jimenez, Executive Director, International Initiative for Impact Evaluation (3ie).
Jo also participated in a session hosted by Dr. Andrea Cook, Head of Independent Evaluation at the World Food Programme. Jo delivered the plenary address, ‘ICTs and Evaluation – A brave new world', to an audience of 100, in a session hosted by Mr. Oscar Gracia, Head of IFAD's Independent Evaluation Office.
Cairo, Egypt 28 September – 2 October
Jo attended GCF’s board meeting in Cairo and discussed IEU’s work plan and budget for 2018. This provided a valuable opportunity to meet and greet with the Board and present IEU’s updates for the past six months. The IEU was complimented for its work.
Washington DC, USA 5 – 9 October
The Climate Investment Funds’ (CIF) meeting on measuring transformational change fits well with aspects of GCF’s overall work on complementarity and coherency. Accordingly, IEU is a key partner and adviser on CIF'swork on evaluation of transformative change. Jo met several key stakeholders, discussed IEU’s views on measurement and bench-marking and also presented some of GCF’s and IEU’s key focus areas.
Oslo, Norway 13 – 13 October
IEU co-hosted the event “Evaluation and Learning for International Sustainable Forest Initiatives”, jointly with the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD), and the evaluation offices of the Global Environment Facility and the United Nations Environment Program.
Recently the NORAD evaluation office completed an evaluation of Norway’s International Climate and Forest Initiative (NICFI). This is of special interest to GCF and IEU as NICFI is one of the largest funders of forestry/REDD+ work in the world. Oslo will also host a REDD+ exchange 27 – 28 June 2018.
Rome, Italy 18 October
The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) invited Jo to speak at its “Program in Rural Monitoring and Evaluation”, where she addressed the IFAD Board on building evaluation capacities at the grassroots.
In the Press and elsewhere!
One of IEU's roles is to interact with other independent evaluation units, to involve them in IEU activities, to build capacity, share knowledge and to ensure that evidence informs learning across the Fund. Outreach activities are central to achieving this and will include producing videos, newsletters, a website, media coverage and stories on partner websites. Recent examples include:
Jo Puri is the Head of GCF’s Independent Evaluation Unit. She has more than 22 years of experience in evaluation research in agriculture, environment, health and infrastructure-related poverty alleviation policies. She is a well-recognized leader in using qualitative and quantitative methods in evaluation. Jo has worked in a variety of multilateral agencies such as the World Bank, UNDP, and UNEP. Before joining GCF she was Deputy Executive Director and Head of Evaluation at the International Initiative of Impact Evaluation (3ie). She is also Adjunct Associate Professor, School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA), Columbia University, USA. Jo holds a Master’s degree in development economics, and an MSc, as well as a PhD in Agriculture and Resource Economics. She has published widely on methods to assess environmental programmes.
Joining us in January
Joseph Mavindu Mutunga from Kenya and Liza Ottlakán from Hungary are joining IEU as Evaluation Associates (Consultants). Joseph has five years monitoring and evaluation experience working with USAID, TRoCaire and DfID. Liza is about to graduate from the University of Sussex with a MSc. in Climate Change, Development and Policy.
Recent arrivals
Avrah Kottarathil Abraham is a recent graduate who read International Politics at the University of Aberystwyth. He is undertaking a six-month internship with the IEU, where he is conducting research on leveraging public finance to catalyse private sector investment into green markets.
Hyejin Wang is a Ph.D Candidate in the Department of Public Administration at Incheon National University. She is studying urban administration and is interested in urban regeneration. She won an award for her paper "Ethical Redevelopmental Analysis on Seoullo 7017 project" in a contest held by the city of Seoul in 2016. Hyejin is currently an intern with IEU.
Sadie DeCoste studies economics and earth sciences at Keck Graduate Institute. An intern with IEU, Sadie is interested in applying impact, evidenced-based evaluation to inform social and climate action.
She served as a civil society delegate to the 2017 COP23 and recently co-authored a report on Canada’s progress in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.
Peter Mwandri is an intern with IEU who works on evaluability assessments of fund-approved proposals using different investment criteria. He has a B.Sc. and an M.Sc. in Statistics from Hallym University in South Korea. Peter is working on climate change mitigation and adaptation evaluation topics.
Pamela Urbina Juarez is doing a Masters in international trade at Yonsei University, in Seoul. She has a BA in Economics from National University of San Marcos in Peru. After graduating, Pamela worked with the Peruvian Agency for International Cooperation and the Ministry of Labor. Her role with IEU is to help establish evaluation data systems.
Jihee Kim is IEU’s Team Assistant. She holds a Master’s degree in International Development from the Paris School of International Affairs and a Bachelor’s degree in International Studies from KyungHee University. Jihee has worked with the FAO in Myanmar and World Vision in Korea. Her interests include project/programme implementation, and monitoring and evaluation in agriculture and climate change.
Greg Clough is IEU’s Communications and Uptake Consultant. For 20 years he has held senior positions with AusAID, USAID, the World Bank, Palladium International and the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR). During his ten years with CIFOR and the World Bank, Greg was responsible for an extensive range of climate change related communication activities. Greg holds a post-graduate and Masters degrees in communications and business.
Recruitment
Evaluation Specialist - Legal and Administrative The incumbent will report to the Head of the Independent Evaluation Unit and provide legal support as well as administrative, operational and institutional support to the Independent Evaluation Unit. S/he will also draft, review and negotiate legal documents with evaluation stakeholders. In support of IEU, s/he will participate in various evaluations that IEU will undertake as requested. He/she should also be able to engage positively and collegially with GCF staff as well as other stakeholders in the evaluation-related field. This position will require traveling as a representative of the IEU. Closing date: 15 January, 2018.
IEU signs MoU with Seoul National University
The IEU recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Center for International Development Evaluation at Seoul National University, Republic of Korea and IEU. The MoU will promote cooperation in technical expertise, knowledge exchange, and strategic partnering in evaluation.
IEU staff meet with Professor Suk-Won Lee, Director of the Center for International Development Evaluation at Seoul National University
* This Newsletter covers the period September 15 to December 2017
