Five Lessons from the Asian Evaluation Week That Resonate for Europe

Authors: Natalia Kryg (krygn@ebrd.com)  and Martin Schunk (schunkm@ebrd.com); European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), Independent Evaluation Department

 

Setting the Scene

Last September, EBRD-IEvD had the privilege of joining the 10th Asian Evaluation Week (AEW) in Xi’an, China. Over four days, more than 100 speakers from multilateral development banks, governments, UN agencies, academia, and the private sector came together to reflect on a central theme: “Navigating Crises, Building on Successes.”. EBRD-IEvD was represented by Véronique Salze-Lozac’h, Gabriele Fattorelli, and Natalia Kryg.

The AEW 2025 once again confirmed its status as the Asia-Pacific’s flagship evaluation platform – and increasingly, a global one. For those of us working in Europe, it provided a valuable reminder of how much we stand to learn from colleagues in Asia and the Pacific, and how much we can contribute in return. This presents an opportunity to build stronger bridges between the European and Asian-Pacific evaluation communities.

AEW in Context

AEW was launched a decade ago as a joint initiative of the Asian Development Bank’s Independent Evaluation Department (IED) and the Asia-Pacific Finance and Development Institute (AFDI) under China’s Ministry of Finance. Its original aim was to strengthen evaluation capacity in Asia and the Pacific and to promote a culture of evidence-based decision making.

Rapidly AEW has evolved into a vibrant international platform, attracting evaluators, policymakers, and academics far beyond Asia and the Pacific. In many ways, it reminds us of the role played by the European Evaluation Society (EES) and its biennial conferences as a hub for exchanging knowledge, testing ideas, and advancing standards.

What makes AEW distinctive is its strong focus on regional cooperation, system-building, and learning under conditions of rapid change and crisis. The 10th anniversary edition in Xi’an captured that spirit perfectly.

The AEW agenda stretched from sessions on urban liveability and climate-resilient infrastructure to private sector adaptability, inclusive evaluation, and youth engagement (watch the summary here). Thought-provoking talks – such as a lively MDB “Evaluation Headlines” debate on embracing agility with evaluation (watch the session here) – reminded participants that evaluation is not just about accountability, but also about equipping institutions to adapt and thrive. Special touches, like the interactive world café and a symbolic torch passing ceremony, underscored AEW’s identity as both a professional forum and a community. The message was clear: in times of crisis, evaluation is not a luxury but a critical tool—one that must embrace agility, harness partnerships, and use technology responsibly, all while remaining anchored in trust and rigor, to guide evidence-based decisions and strengthen resilience across regions.

Lessons That Resonate for Europe

Aside from an overlap in EES institutional members and AEW participants, several themes from Xi’an speak directly to challenges faced by evaluators in Europe.

1. Crisis-Responsive Evaluation
   Experience in Asia and the Pacific shows the importance of real-time, adaptive evaluation during pandemics, natural disasters, or economic shocks. For Europe – grappling with climate extremes, geopolitical instability, and migration pressures – these methods can help institutions respond with agility while still ensuring accountability.
2. Inclusivity and Intergenerational Partnerships
   AEW highlighted inclusive approaches, from participatory evaluation to youth engagement. One session on “Institutionalising evaluation through intergenerational partnerships” demonstrated how young evaluators can be integrated into governance systems. For European evaluators, this is both a challenge and an opportunity: how to empower new voices while safeguarding independence.
3. Regional Public Goods
   Evaluating cross-border issues is a core concern in Asia and the Pacific, from regional infrastructure to environmental protection. Europe, with its complex governance architecture and EU-wide programmes, can relate. AEW’s discussions offered valuable insights into methodologies for assessing regional cooperation and shared outcomes.
4. Digital and Evaluability Tools
   Sessions on evaluability reviews, climate metrics, and digital platforms reflected experimentation in the Asia and Pacific region with new tools. Europe, with its strong academic base, can benefit from these practical innovations while sharing its own advances in big-data use and AI for evaluation.
5. Organisational Transformation
   Many AEW discussions went beyond methods to the culture of evaluation – how MDBs and governments can embed evaluation in decision-making. This resonates strongly with current European debates on institutionalising learning within public administrations.

Building Bridges Between Asia and Europe

So how can we strengthen the connections between our two evaluation communities?

• Joint Participation: Encourage more European evaluators to join AEW, and more Asian and Pacific colleagues to take part in EES conferences and events. Through joint participation, we can foster a sense of connection between both regions.
• Shared Learning Products: Co-author comparative studies or policy briefs on crisis evaluation, climate finance, or regional public goods. This is where both regions can learn from each other.
• Youth Networks: Link young and emerging evaluators (YEEs) from both regions through mentorship and exchange. Such connections can turbocharge youth engagement, inclusivity, and intergenerational dialogue.
• Digital Platforms: Launch webinars, podcasts, or blogs that showcase case studies from Asia and Europe side by side. Through digital platforms, we can easily build bridges between our regions.

Such bridges would not only enrich evaluation practice but also strengthen the global voice of evaluators in shaping development policy.

Conclusion

Xi’an was a fitting location for AEW’s 10th anniversary. As the historic starting point of the Silk Road, it symbolises exchange, learning, and connection across continents. AEW 2025 reminded us that evaluation, too, must travel across borders – adapting to context, but grounded in shared principles of evidence, inclusivity, and learning.

For European evaluators, the message is clear: our relevance depends not only on rigorous methods, but on our openness to learn from others. Building bridges with Asia’s evaluators is not an optional extra – it is central to strengthening evaluation as a global public good.

Let us carry the spirit of Xi’an forward, and make this bridge a permanent pathway.