Participants from Latin America and the Caribbean completed the Environmental and Resource Economics Training Course on Impact Evaluation by LACEEP at CATIE
Twenty eight practitioners and students
from countries across Latin America and the Caribbean completed the
environmental and resource economics training course on Impact Evaluation. The
course was organized by EfD-CA´s partner program, The Latin American and the
Caribbean Environment and Economics Program (LACEEP). The course was held at
CATIE´s campus between July 18 and 27. LACEEP is directed by EfD-CA Center Juan
Robalino.
The course was taught by Professor Paul J.
Ferraro, Department of Economics at Georgia State University and Professor Rodrigo
Arriagada, Department of Agricultural Economics at Pontificia Universidad
Católica de Chile in Santiago. The faculty is well known for their research
contributions on the topic; they are both very active intellectual on impact
evaluation.
The fundamental principal for evaluation
impact is to ask the question, what would have happened if there had been no
intervention? This way of approaching evaluation impact (the counterfactual thinking
approach) goes beyond the simple description of indicators which is important
for documenting processes. Nonetheless, programs
and policy interventions need to be evaluated based on whether the intervention
causes any change in behaviors that affect its outcome.
Some of the central themes of the course
were:
- ·
What has program evaluation
found in relation to environmental policy? - ·
The role of evaluation in
environmental policy. - ·
The State of the Evidence-base
in Environmental Policy - ·
Program evaluation methods - ·
Experimental and Non-experimental
Designs - ·
The role of program evaluation
in environmental policy and barriers to program evaluation in environmental
policy
Resources
on Impact Evaluation
Handbook on impact evaluation :
quantitative methods and practices http://www-wds.worldbank.org/external/default/WDSContentServer/IW3P/IB/2009/12/10/000333037_20091210014322/Rendered/PDF/520990PUB0EPI1101Official0Use0Only1.pdf
Rough Guide to Impact Evaluation of Environmental
and Development Programs http://www.sandeeonline.com/uploads/documents/publication/847_PUB_Working_Paper_40.pdf
Introduction to Evaluation http://www.socialresearchmethods.net/kb/intreval.htm
Better Policies for Better Lives http://www.oecd.org/home/0,2987,en_2649_201185_1_1_1_1_1,00.html