Concept Note
Over the last few years, the world has faced tremendous disruptions such as the COVID-19 pandemic, the Russia-Ukraine war and other fragilities in several countries, climate change hardships and various natural disasters that have affected the lives and livelihoods of millions of people. Further aggravated by global economic and financial market depressions, even many more have been thrown into poverty, with greater exposure to vulnerabilities and inequalities.
These disruptions have led to serious reversal problems, eroding decades worth of development progress, and consequent undermining of the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals Agenda 2030 and the Africa Union Agenda 2063. As is often the case, developing countries, many of which are in Africa, face the harshest impacts of shocks
Nonetheless, enormous challenges also present enormous opportunities for resilience and the opportunity to boost local momentum to recover progress lost, particularly within the developing countries who are the most affected by any global shocks. Approaching the risks and opportunities to people, planet, and the economy, using a sustainability lens, unearths a unique opportunity to mobilize domestic resources and deploy tailored solutions at scale.
With inclusive and complementary support from all key sectors and stakeholders, countries are able to better position themselves to build the systems, structures and capacities needed to withstand shocks and bounce back better; to wit, resilience and recovery.
This year’s E2A would be held in Ethiopia at the Ethiopian Economics Association Auditorium, in Addis Ababa, from 24th to 28th July, 2023 comprising a 2 days of pre-conference events/side events and the 3-day conference and exhibition.
RESILIENCE AND RECOVERY
Conference Theme
The conference theme, “Resilience and Recovery” deepens dialogues, shared learning and strategies to accelerate resilience and recovery, across the globe, with an emphasis on Africa. It highlights questions such as: What are the pathways to recovery from shocks? What coping strategies do communities and households adopt in response to shocks, and to build resilience to better withstand future shocks? Can building the resilience of vulnerable populations set them on a new trajectory for increased growth and well-being, and how can this be implemented? 2 The theme also covers research evidence and evaluation practices related to how households, firms, institutions and governments respond to shocks, approaches to increase resilience in the face of future shocks, and interventions to both mitigate and adapt to shocks. It also paves the way for in-depth discussions for tailored, scalable solutions on various sub-thematic areas as highlighted.
Subthemes
- Improving agricultural adaptation to climate change, and resilience to agricultural shocks
- Effective strategies for peace building, stabilization and responses to conflict and forced displacement
- Strengthening health and education systems for resilience to and recovery from pandemics and other global public health crises
- Engaging youth as active agents of change and emerging leaders
- Mainstreaming gender equity and women’s economic empowerment for accelerated recovery
- Inclusive finance for financial resilience: expanding pathways for sustainable socio-economic recovery
- Re-imagining social protection and inclusion of marginalized and vulnerable populations in resilience-building efforts.
The overall goal for the E2A 2023 would be to bring together stakeholders that work in the realm of resilience and recovery to share their evidence and thoughts on reducing vulnerabilities and building adaptation capacities for future shocks and risks.
The conference would have the following specific objectives, revolving around resilience and recovery:
Provide a platform for researchers, academia, policymakers, development practitioners and private sector actors to exchange knowledge, evidence and shared learning on regional and continental issues and shocks;
Deepen locally-led approaches towards mainstreaming evidence-based policymaking for resilience and recovery, through contextualized socioeconomic realities within Africa;
Foster cooperation, resource partnerships and collectively tailored solutions among key actors and stakeholders that scale up, rather than duplicate sustainable development efforts on the continent;
Explore the role of new technologies, data and innovation in building resilience, and to identify opportunities for leveraging these tools to address global shocks effectively and inclusively; and
Recommend approaches for strengthening policy, practice, programs and institutional structures to accelerate resilience and recovery towards leaving no one behind and realizing the Africa we want.
Overall, the expected outcome of the conference would be to promote a shared vision and commitment to building resilience against global shocks, and to develop practical solutions that can be implemented at both the national and international levels. Specific outcomes would include:
Increased awareness and understanding of current global shocks, their impact on various sectors and regions in Africa, and identification of best practices and strategies for building resilience;
Development of locally-led frameworks or recommended guidelines for building resilience and recovery through contextualized shared learning;
Promotion of bi-lateral and multilateral collaborations and partnerships; investments and resource mobilization, to address global shocks and build resilience;
Increased availability of cutting-edge technology, evidence and innovative approaches in nurturing resilience, recovery and inclusion of marginalized and vulnerable populations in resilience-building efforts;
. Enhanced demand and adoption of evaluation and research evidence to strengthen policymaking, practice and program delivery.
The conference will be a forum that integrates and optimizes cutting-edge innovation, research and evaluation findings through collaborative and shared learning to promote evidence-based policymaking and sustainable program development.
This will be achieved through i. plenary addresses ii. Presentations iii. round table and panel discussions, iv. paper and poster presentations and iv. exhibitions. The conference would also host pre-conference workshops that facilitate professional development training for interested participants.
The conference would bring together a high calibre of experts, government actors and policymakers, research institutions, academia, civic society organizations, international NGOs, United Nations Agencies, private sector organizations and industry, global business leaders and entrepreneurs, and the media.
This 2023 E2A Conference is convened by the International Centre for Evaluation and Development (ICED) and the Ministry of Planning and Development, Ethiopia in partnership with the University of Gondar, Policy Studies Institute, Ethiopian Economics Association, Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Market, Risk and Resilience of the University of California at Davis, Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research (ISSER) at the University of Ghana, Ethiopian Evaluation Association, Jimma University, Global Development Network, Ministry of Finance-Ethiopia, Africa Centre for Systematic Reviews and Knowledge Translation-Makerere University, African Evaluation Association (AfrEA) and other partners.