KDI School was officially on Spring Break! Everyone was ready to have carefree days with friends. However, thirty KDI School students – including myself – decided to spend this vacation in a different way. From May 5^th to 9^th, we attended the Regional Impact Evaluation Workshop at the Grand Ambassador Hotel, titled Evaluating the Impact of Development Programs: Turning Practices into Evidence. This event is organized yearly by the World Bank and the KDI School. The objective of this workshop is to give participants an overview of impact evaluation and to help them design evaluations for their own projects.

This year, the participants included policymakers, technical staff, World Bank task team leaders, KDIS professors and students. For a one–week period, we participated in sessions regarding evaluation design and building result chains. We learned through a mixture of lectures, small and large group discussions, and hands-on application of practical skills in impact evaluation for the participants’ own projects.

All participants were part of the plenary session where we had world-class experts lecturing on key evaluation issues, after which we moved to parallel sessions. The policymakers’ session provided a theoretical foundation for identifying causality and different evaluation methodologies. It also covered practical techniques for building high quality impact evaluations into new programs, including sampling designs, roll-out strategies, and other operational tools. This was the perfect session for those who do not have strong econometrics background. On the other hand, the technical session targeted researchers and professionals who wanted to deepen their knowledge of econometric estimation methodologies as applied to impact evaluations.

It may sound odd, but coffee breaks were highly interesting. We had the opportunity to approach experts and policymakers in person to discuss ideas, go deeper in specific topics and ask questions. Not a minute was wasted in this workshop.

Every afternoon, participants would work on small groups to reinforce all they learned throughout the day. Expert moderators will work with each group to guide the conversation and provide technical support. Every day the group focused on designing impact evaluation for their own projects. On day five each group presented their designs for feedback, where the presentations from KDIS student groups stood out and  won high praise from the experts from the World Bank.

As a participant I was able to check how well prepared the KDIS students are to contribute to the work with world-class professionals. It was a timely experience to understand why our professors demand the very best from us. We may struggle with assignments and exams, and many of us agonize over courses like Quantitative Methods, Econometrics and Analysis of Market and Public Policy. Events like this, however, make us realize that all this knowledge is necessary and our long nights of studying are really paying off!

During the closing ceremony, all participants received a Certificate of Completion signed by the World Bank and the KDI School. We were all very happy and satisfied to spend our Spring Break studying. There were no regrets, just good memories and knowledge that are worth the investment.

By Lesly Rubio Campos (2013 MPP, Guatemala)