“We decided that each year we would celebrate those who most delighted us in terms of impact. It was difficult for the journal's editors to choose the 10 winners because there were so many people and organizations who inspired us, who developed innovative approaches to the evaluation, monitoring and planning of project activities. Our 10 laureates are people and organizations whose contribution to the development of the evaluation and impact industry is so great that without them things would be different,” said Natalia Gladkikh.
TO BE CLEARER AND CLOSER TO THE PEOPLE
The award in the Development of Social Projects Evaluation System category was won by the Center for Advanced Management Solutions (CAMS) for the introduction of assessment models into the system of public administration and the publication of methodological materials. In 2020, CAMS and the Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation published an expert note “Application of the Theory of Change for Strategic Audit and Strategic Planning in Russia.”[17]
As the authors of the document note, there is a gap between the strategic goals of Russia's development, which are formulated by the President of the Russian Federation in his decrees and by the Government of the Russian Federation in its strategies, and the final results. The formal achievement of indicators does not always mean achievement of the originally planned social and economic effect. Moreover, different groups of beneficiaries often do not feel the effects of the goals set and achieved. One of the tools to bridge this gap is the theory of change, an approach in which each instrument of public policy must be focused on achieving a specific socio-economic change[18].
One of the authors of the expert memorandum, Maksim Tsygankov, head of the Program and Policy evaluation project area at the Center for Advanced Management Solutions, shared with the editors of the Positive Changes what important things happened in 2022 from the perspective of evaluation development in our country.
“It is too early to talk about the practice of evidence-based approaches in the public sector, despite the fact that in 2022 it was possible to finalize a number of evaluation projects, such as microdata projects of the Federal Service for Labour and Employment. Thus, detailed administrative microdata on the state of the labour market became available to researchers. Research is expected to be based on this open data, the results of which will help improve organizational and technological processes of employment for citizens and recruitment for employers