8/11/2019 CEI Week - IDB Statement

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Inter-American Development Bank | www.iadb.org

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STATEMENT FROM THE IDB COUNTRY REPRESENTATIVE

The Inter-American Development Bank is pleased to celebrate with you the 9 th month of Caribbean EvaluatorsInternationals (CEI) existence. The establishment of CEI as a regional body that puts the spotlight onevaluation should be applauded as being very progressive in the context of the development trend to promotepublic policy informed by rigorous objective evidence.

The literature suggests that evidence based policy has evolved from evidence based medicine in whichresearch findings are used to support clinical decisions. While many developed countries, such as the UK, haveembraced the application of evidence to social policy since the 1990s, we in the Caribbean region are nowbeginning to utilize the approach with support for agencies like CEI, the IDB and other Multilateral FinancialInstitutions. Specifically, the IDB has been working with regional governments on two key fronts. Firstly, theBanks development effectiveness guidelines and methodology ensure that evaluations are built into the designphase of all its projects geared to impact and change public policy and in addition, appropriate resources areallocated in project budgets to implement the evaluations. The Banks second area of intervention coincideswith CEIs objective to accelerate the achievement of the Caribbean development results by increasingindividual and national evaluation capacity.. Our most recent intervention was in November 2013 when aRegional Impact Evaluation Seminar was conducted in Jamaica aimed at improving technical skills of publicservants in impact evaluation and promoting a culture in public agencies of using evidence to inform policy. Inthis instance, the Bank collaborated with one of the leading proponents of impact evaluations, Professor PaulGertler from the University of Berkley, Haas School of Business.

A challenge that must be overcome is the need to equip Caribbean professionals with the necessary skills toconduct rigorous evaluations and strengthen their abilities to interpret and apply the results to sound policiesformulation. In order to advance and hasten an evidence based policy culture, the Bank will continue on the pathof strengthening regional ministerial capacity and exploring opportunities to collaborate with agencies on thisfront.

The IDB would like to congratulate CEI on this important milestone and look forward to partnering with them toadvance economic and social development in the Caribbean region by improving the formulation andimplementation social and economic policies.

Sincerely,

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