14th International Evaluation Conference, 27th-28th of May 2021 (online)
New reality. Challenges for cohesion policy and evaluation in the post-pandemic era
The International Evaluation Conference, organized by the Ministry of Development Funds and Regional Policy and the Polish Agency for Enterprise Development, has more than 15 years of tradition. Since the first conference in 2005, a lot has changed - we have gained valuable experience from a number of interventions implemented in Poland and their evaluation. This has enabled us to further improve the evaluation system, focusing on its most important elements such as systematic increase of research usability, stakeholder involvement and proper institutionalisation of the process. We also care about continuation of capacity building by spreading the culture of evaluation of public interventions. The exchange of experience with national, regional and foreign partners remains crucial for further development of evaluation in Poland as well. In this context, cooperation with the European Commission and the Visegrad Group countries is particularly important. All the aforementioned activities are carried out, among others, in a unique project of the International Evaluation Conference. We invite you to participate in its 14th edition.
This year's event takes place at a special moment. The summing up of the 2014-2020 Cohesion Policy perspective begins at the time of the ongoing COVID-19 epidemic. For more than a year now, evaluation research has been carried out in a new, pandemic reality, requiring a particular view of ongoing processes and the use of a limited or modified range of research techniques. At the same time, in connection with the start of the next perspective of the cohesion policy 2021-2027, it is also necessary to look into the future, at the challenges facing the countries of the European Union. An attempt to identify them and to carry out specific actions was made, among others, within the framework of cooperation in the Visegrad Group. The Polish Presidency of the V4, which runs from 1st July 2020 to 30th June this year, has assumed the implementation of many ambitious projects, including the 14th International Evaluation Conference.
The conference discussion will focus on the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic for the implementation of public interventions. We will discuss how the pandemic has changed the area of Cohesion Policy implementation, as well as the socio-economic challenges facing Europe, in particular the V4 countries, and how interventions co-financed by European funds can respond to them. We will also reflect on the changes brought by the pandemic to the evaluation process. The experts will discuss trends as well as specific actions in the field of analysis and qualitative and quantitative research. Proposals of research and analytical techniques adequate to the current situation and case studies (good practices) will be also presented.
Due to the pandemic situation, this year's conference will be conducted entirely online for the first time. This will enable secure participation in the event by a wide group of people from Poland and abroad. Participation in the conference will be possible after completing the registration form.
More information on the history of the evaluation conference can be found on the archived pages.