Nurturing Evaluation Systems in Indian States

The presence of strong and robust evaluation systems is a critical enabler of evidence-based policy making. India, with a federal set-up of government, has diverse evaluation capacities across its 36 States/UTs. Since the inception of State Planning Departments in the mid-60s, some States have emerged as front runners, while others are aspiring to augment their evaluation potential. It is, however, clear that each state is different and unique and thus requires customised interventions to strengthen their evaluation systems.

With this backdrop, the Development Monitoring and Evaluation Office (DMEO), NITI Aayog brings together experts in the domain of institutionalising evaluation ecosystems. Through this discussion, the panel will explore different approaches that may be adopted for strengthening the evaluation systems at disaggregated levels. With the help of case studies, panelists will entail some of the key points on best practices adopted in nurturing evaluation systems.