Activities of DESI

Activities of DESI

DESI was originally conceived as an association of members who were working professionals in various organisations and therefore could not devote full time to DESI. Now that several DESI members have expressed willingness to work full time for the organisation, it was deemed appropriate to modify the Society’s Memorandum to expand its activities to include sponsored research projects. The Memorandum has been modified and ratified by the Registrar of Societies, Delhi in 2014, and the necessary changes in the organisational set-up have been effected. In the past, queries received by DESI were forwarded to interested members to take up such assignments.

Services to National and International Agencies

Services of key professionals of DESI have been made available to national and international agencies. National organisations such as NCAER, the Independent Evaluation Office, the Indian Institute of Management (Ahmedabad), the Institute of Resource Management and Economic Development, the Council for Social Development and others have used the services of DESI professionals. Among the international agencies that made use of the services of our members are IDRC, the World Bank, USAID, the British High Commission, IFAD and INSYDE.

Selected Assignments

• NCAER — impact evaluation of ICDS for PEO (2011–12).
• IDRC — assessing the “State of Development Evaluation in India” (2009–10).
• Independent Evaluation Office (India) — building a new Evaluation Architecture for India (2014).
• INSYDE (Luxembourg) — evaluating the impact of development interventions in parts of rural Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.
• British High Commission — assessing the impact of their interventions in school education.
• IIM Ahmedabad — assessing the impact of irrigation projects, including mechanisation in agriculture.
• Lectures on Monitoring & Evaluation delivered by members at various organisations (CSD, IMAR, IIPA, etc.).

Professional Standing of Members

In their individual capacity, too, our members have worked for various national and international organisations in the area of development evaluation. DESI professionals are members of various national and international professional bodies and have contributed papers to international conferences and journals on development issues. They are invited to deliver lectures by institutions engaged in evaluation capacity building.

The key members of DESI have long experience in evaluating the impact of projects and programmes in areas such as agriculture & rural development, water resources, health & nutrition, education, food security & public distribution, renewable energy and human development.