Costa Rica at the 2024 NEC Conference: Advances and Challenges in Evaluation
Costa Rica participated in four sessions and one workshop at the 2024 National Evaluation Capacities (NEC) Conference, which took place from October 14 to 18 in Beijing, China. The country was represented by Florita Azofeifa, Director of Evaluation and Monitoring at the Ministry of National Planning and Economic Policy (Mideplan), and Eddy García, Head of the Evaluation Unit at Mideplan.
In the session "Exploring NES Evaluation Tools: Effective Use and Timing in National Evaluation Systems," Ms. Azofeifa showcased four important evaluation instruments: the National Evaluation Policy 2018-2030, the Evaluation Manual, the Three National Evaluation Agendas, and the National Evaluation Platform. These tools have been instrumental in standardizing and enhancing the country’s evaluation practices.
Ms. Azofeifa also shared Costa Rica’s experience in using the National Evaluation Capacity Index (INCE), a diagnostic tool that measures the capacity of national evaluation systems. Sarah Klier, Evaluation Capacity Development Lead at the German Institute for Development Evaluation (DEval), demonstrated the application of INCE in eight Latin American countries.
In the session “Local Values and Decolonizing Evaluation,” Ms. Azofeifa shared the development of Costa Rica’s "Participatory Evaluation Guide." The guide was based on the participatory evaluation of the "Cancer Prevention and Care Services in Valle de la Estrella" in Limón. The evaluation was carried out as part of DEval’s Evaluation Capacity Development project Focelac+ (Strengthening a Culture of Evaluation and Learning in Latin America with a Global Outlook).
Mr. García discussed Costa Rica’s efforts in evaluating environmental policies during the session "Evaluating Environmental Sustainability and Climate Change." The discussion addressed the challenges of evaluating climate change policies. Panelists shared strategies for improving national monitoring and evaluation systems to address climate challenges.
Costa Rica also presented its evaluation of the National Biodiversity Strategy (NBS) in the session "Country-Led Evaluations and the SDGs.” The evaluation assessed the country's progress on SDGs 14 and 15, which focus on life below water and life on land. Costa Rica's Ministry of Environment used the evaluation findings to update the strategy and improve the country’s efforts to meet SDG commitments.