aes26 International Evaluation Conference: Full Schedule

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9:00am ACST

Plenary: Emmanuel Jimenez "Putting Money Where the Evidence Is: a perspective from international development"

Thursday September 17, 2026 9:00am - 10:00am ACST

Putting Money Where the Evidence Is: a perspective from international development
Emmanuel Jimenez, Director General, Independent Evaluation Department of the Asian Development Bank

As resources become increasingly constrained, organizations face growing pressure to make better decisions with limited funding. Evidence of what works is needed even more when resources are tight. In this environment, evaluation matters not simply because it generates knowledge, but because it helps organizations learn, adapt and improve as they optimize the allocations of their resources.

As richer countries reprioritize their spending due to economic pressures and geopolitical shifts, the downward trend in donors’ aid budgets may weaken the impetus for strengthening evaluation ecosystems – just when credible evidence is most needed to guide difficult choices.

Drawing on experiences from the Asian Development Bank, this plenary will reflect on the institutional opportunities and challenges for evaluation in a resource-constrained world. The questions are practical and pressing: how do we strike an appropriate balance between accountability and learning in generating credible evidence when incentives are not always well-aligned, when there are debates on the credibility of methods, and when there is uneven capacity to undertake evaluation? How do we ensure that evaluation findings, once generated, are communicated well and used effectively by decision-makers?

The lessons from answering these questions are relevant to governments, organizations and evaluators as the need for evidence is growing and the resources to produce and use it are under pressure.

Chair

Christabelle Darcy

Director, Evidence and Evaluation, NT Department of Treasury and Finance

I'm co-convenor of aes26, along with Alison Reedy. In my day job, I lead the Program Evaluation Unit within the Department of Treasury and Finance in the Northern Territory Government. We aim to help government achieve the best outcomes within the allocated budget and build an evidence-base... Read More →

Speakers

Emmanuel_Jimenez

Director General, Independent Evaluation Department of the Asian Development Bank

Being the Director General of the Independent Evaluation Department of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), I report to ADB’s Board of Directors, with responsibilities including assessing ADB’s development effectiveness, as well as providing lessons to inform ADB operations. Prior... Read More →

Thursday September 17, 2026 9:00am - 10:00am ACST
Hall 2

Plenary

Format Keynote address
Audience Level Advanced, Foundational, Intermediate

aes26 International Evaluation Conference

9:00am ACST

Christabelle Darcy

Emmanuel_Jimenez

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