The Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) is using evaluation to make its decision-making processes at both the programmatic and strategic levels even more evidence-based. The aim is to strengthen the operational departments’ understanding of the importance of evaluation in the program cycle. The requirements for high-quality evaluations are to be created as early as the program planning stage. In addition, IsDB promotes evaluative thinking at all levels of decision-making.
To achieve these goals, the IsDB hosted a workshop for evaluators and program planners in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, from September 24 to 30, 2023. The workshop, which was attended by about 30 participants from the Bank’s headquarters and its branches, was conducted by IPDET, the International Program for Development Evaluation Training. Dr Stefanie Krapp, head of the program at the University of Bern, was enthusiastic about the participants: “Rarely have we received so much commitment, motivation and active support in the implementation of a training course!”. Prof. Dr. Reinhard Stockmann from the Center for Evaluation (CEval) says: “The IsDB is on a good way to reach the set goals”. He sees good chances that the motto of the five-day continuing education course “Better Decision Making through Evaluation” will become a reality.
The evaluation of the event seems to meet the expectations of the two course leaders: 97% of the participants stated in a final survey that they were satisfied or very satisfied with the course and almost all participants would recommend the course to their colleagues. This result speaks not only for the high quality of the course, but also for the great interest of the participants in using evaluation even more effectively than before for decision-making.
