Impact evaluations assess the degree to which a particular policy, program or policy has affected the well-being of individuals. They can play a tremendous role in making effective policy and necessitate a larger discussion in the context of efforts to improve development effectiveness. On January 15 to 16 2008 the conference “Making Smart Policy: Using Impact Evaluation for Policy Making” was held at the World Bank Headquarters in Washington, D.C. The conference was organized by the Poverty Reduction and Economic Management (PREM), Independent Evaluation Group (IEG), and Development Economics (DEC) networks of the World Bank, with co-sponsorship by DFID and the Government of the Netherlands.
The break-out session on “Education” was introduced by Halsey Rogers, Senior Economist in DECRG at the World Bank. Rogers outlined the questions around which the session was framed: what attempts were made to influence policy, and how much influence did these impact evaluations have? He stated that the session would be an opportunity to test the various hypothesis proposed during the main sessions.
The first presenter, Antonie de Kemp, IOB for the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, spoke about an impact evaluation of primary education in Uganda. He gave a brief background of the evaluation. Kemp also outlined the objectives of the intervention, which were to analyze the effects of interventions, obtain more insight of their effectiveness individually, and see how the information the management information system could be used for evaluations. On the methodology, Kemp explained the evaluation’s contextual approach, with a large group of local specialists and consultants. Kemp explained that at the start, learning achievements in the project’s 45 schools were below national average. Next, Joseph Eilor, Principle Education Planner in the Ministry of Education and Sports of Uganda, spoke about the project’s findings. He stated that there has been enormous progress in improving access to education, and investments in teachers, classrooms, and books. The study has enabled the Ministry of Education and Sports to demonstrate progress and accountability to Parliament in a concrete way, Eilor said. He stated that one of the biggest problems of primary education in Uganda is the absenteeism of both students and teachers, and that the results of the evaluation has given them the tools to make an argument for this problem. He outlined a few of the proposals and methodology that came out of the evaluation. Among the challenges, Eilor pointed out the high costs.
Deon Filmer, Senior Economist in DECRJ at the World Bank, delivered the next presentation. Filmer talked about an impact evaluation concerning scholarship program for secondary education in Cambodia, where enrollment in secondary school is very low. Filmer stated that the evaluation sought to look at the impact of the program on attendance and attention, the difference of impact between the levels scholarship grants, as well as the impact on other dimensions such as learning, inter-household issues, child labor, ect.
The final presenter, Miguel Urquiola, Assistant Professor at Columbia University, spoke about the effects of the School Choice program in Chile. He stated is the project’s objective was to improve the quality education, not the quantity. He outlined the history of the Chilean school systems, explaining recent reforms and how these are related to the project’s findings.
The session concluded with a question and answer session, where participants posed questions and comments to the speakers.
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