Costa Rica hosted the first Executive Course for Leaders in Evaluation in Latin America

San José, November 2024. Costa Rica hosted the first Executive Course for Evaluation Leaders (ExCEL) for the Latin American region, implemented by UNICEF and strategic partners as a training initiative aimed at high-level government counterparts in evaluation.

ExCEL has been implemented globally in partnership with the National University of Singapore to support the strengthening of national evaluation systems of programmes and policies aimed at children and adolescents. It supports evidence-based decision-making processes and continuous improvement in planning, evaluation, and monitoring practices. This is the first time that the ExCEL initiative has been launched in Spanish after being conducted in English and French globally. The course provides a unique opportunity to strengthen national evaluation systems and support governments in their implementation focused on the needs of their countries.

“For UNICEF Costa Rica, it is of great importance to host this training in the region. Strengthening states and their respective stakeholders in evaluation skills contributes to increase the impact of the programs in the lives of adults and children in each participating country,” said Yvette Blanco, UNICEF Representative in Costa Rica.

Through a two-week workshop, ExCEL focuses on the leadership aspects for evaluation with sessions on management techniques and interpersonal skills. Each country finished the course with an action plan at the country level to implement lessons learned during the training and explore ideas shared between country delegates reflecting distinct challenges and opportunities in the Latin American context. The training aligns with the 2030 Agenda and responds to the demand of Member States to increase national capacity in this area, as reflected in the 2014 United Nations General Assembly resolution on capacity building for the evaluation of development activities in countries (A/RES/69/237).

The workshop benefitted from the partnership of the Central American Institute for Public Administration (ICAP), which promotes the development of human resources and modernization of the public sector in the region. Other key actors joined the workshop who are integral to joint efforts in the Latin America region in strengthening national evaluation systems, namely the German Evaluation Institute for Development Cooperation (DEval) who co-leads the National Evaluation Capacity Index.

Government delegations from the 12 Latin American countries participating in the workshop established links between leaders on evaluation issues, explored opportunities for south-south and triangular cooperation, and set out their priorities and actions for further strengthening evaluation systems.