NEC 2017: Plenary 4 - Dealing with complexity in an increasingly interconnected world

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Plenary 4: Dealing with complexity in an increasingly interconnected world
Keynote Speaker:
Mr. Michael Woolcock,Lead Social Development Specialist, Development Research Group, World Bank
Assessing ‘complex’ development interventions requires extended engagement with contextual idiosyncrasies and implementation processes. As such, making warranted claims about ‘effectiveness’ entails integrating theory with the full arsenal of research methods and data (qualitative, quantitative, and comparative-historical) available to social scientists. The future will surely be more rather than less ‘complex’, as will the policy responses demanded by citizens, as will the binding constraints on the full effectiveness of most interventions. Evaluations addressing these issues must themselves be designed accordingly, rather than imagining that singular (putatively ‘rigorous’) approaches can elicit the “key facts” needed to verify claims about impact, and inform decisions regarding whether to scale up successes and/or replicate them elsewhere.
Moderator:
• Mr. Indran Naidoo, Director, Independent Evaluation Office, UNDP
Timing: 09:00 to 10:00
Venue: Ballroom 1