Beyond merely evaluating programs, ECD encompasses a wide range of activities, including designing, implementing, and managing evaluations, and fostering an ecosystem that values and promotes evaluative thinking.

In India, the ECD ecosystem is mainly comprises of two broad groups: supply-side stakeholders, who provide evaluation-related resources and training, and demand-side stakeholders, who seek evaluation expertise for decision-making.

Supply-Side Stakeholders and Their Strategies

In India, supply-side stakeholders include government bodies like the Development Monitoring and Evaluation Office (DMEO), academic institutions, research organizations, and consulting firms. These entities develop and implement various ECD strategies, which can be categorized into five key areas:

1. Training and academic courses: Certificate courses and academic programs offered by universities and research institutions.
2. Tech-enabled learning solutions: Online courses delivered through learning management systems and asynchronous platforms.
3. Communities of Practice: Voluntary networks like the Community of Evaluators South Asia (COE-SA) and EvalYouth India, which facilitate collaboration, knowledge sharing, and advocacy for evidence-based decision-making.
4. Evaluation toolkits and resources: Freely accessible toolkits and frameworks that provide evaluators with practical resources to enhance their skills.
5. Technical advisory: Support provided by consulting and research organizations to develop evaluation frameworks, conduct evaluations, and offer data and curriculum development assistance.

While the private sector and civil society play significant roles in ECD, government involvement is essential for creating an enabling environment for evaluation practices. Government bodies, both at the central and state levels, need to enhance their evaluation capacity to set the tone for a stronger evaluation ecosystem in India.

Demand-Side Stakeholders and Their Needs

Demand-side stakeholders, including corporate foundations, consulting firms, research institutions, and government agencies, require ECD support in specific areas such as technical expertise, evaluation planning, and data analysis. However, gaps exist in how supply-side ECD strategies address the demand for evaluation utilization, learning, and stakeholder management. One key demand is the development of evaluation frameworks. This is a special use case, as it spans different capacity levels and stakeholders, requiring collaboration between government agencies and external ECD providers.

Despite ongoing efforts, several gaps hinder the development of a robust evaluation ecosystem in India:

• Limited focus on evaluation utilization: Current training programs emphasize technical skills like planning and managing evaluations but often overlook evaluation utilization and communication.
• Fragmented ECD efforts: ECD initiatives are scattered, with little coordination among stakeholders. Many government officials lack comprehensive training in monitoring and evaluation (M&E).
• Absence of standardized curricula: Academic programs often offer M&E as elective courses, with no standardized curriculum or mandatory requirements for evaluation training.
• Lack of practical exposure: Courses seldom include internships or hands-on experiences in evaluation utilization and stakeholder management, leaving professionals to learn these skills on the job.
• Inconsistent initiatives: Civil society efforts, such as those led by VOPEs (Voluntary Organizations for Professional Evaluation), are often intermittent and lack a unified vision.
• Inadequate evaluation of effectiveness: India lacks a systematic approach to measuring the effectiveness of ECD efforts beyond self-assessments.

Recommendations for strengthening ECD in India

To build a sustainable evaluation ecosystem in India, a coordinated effort is needed across all stakeholders. Key recommendations include:

1. Developing an enabling environment: A strong demand for evaluation can only be created through a coordinated approach that includes an evaluation policy, supported by national and state-level initiatives to establish frameworks and networks.
2. Agility in ECD strategies: ECD strategies must be adaptable to the needs of different stakeholders and institutions. Training programs should go beyond workshops and courses to include practical, hands-on experiences.
3. Improving communication strategies: Effective dissemination and utilization of evaluation findings require robust communication strategies to ensure that stakeholders use evaluation insights for decision-making.
4. Institutionalizing solutions: Solutions to current gaps in the ECD ecosystem must be institutionalized within both civil society and government, ensuring that they are implemented on a larger scale.
5. Tailored ECD strategies at the state level: As states progress at different rates, ECD strategies should be customized to address the uneven development of evaluation capacities across India.

Building a robust evaluation ecosystem in India requires a concerted effort from supply-side and demand-side stakeholders. By addressing the gaps in training, resources, and collaboration, and fostering a culture of evaluative thinking, India can create a sustainable, impactful ECD ecosystem that benefits all sectors.