On May 25, 2023, Social Impact hosted its Evidence for Impact webinar: "Promise and Perils of Data Science for Development". This webinar discussed how data science can be used to improve development effectiveness. Highlighting both the promise and perils of these methods, the presentation showcases recent projects that use machine learning to improve program targeting at USAID and to develop forecasts of political events to inform USAID strategy. The presentation concluded with critical reflections from within USAID on the promise and pitfalls of using data science for development.

On Friday, April 14, 2023, Social Impact hosted its Evidence for Impact webinar: "Developmental Evaluation: A Tool for Operational Effectiveness" as part of USAID’s Agency Learning and Evidence Month 2023. The webinar discussed how DE has been able to improve programming and effectiveness for USAID, host country governments, and partner organizations.

On April 4, 2023, Social Impact, in partnership with FHI 360, hosted the 'Prioritizing Mental Health in Organizational Resilience' webinar. The webinar explored why mental health is relevant to development programming and featured a testimony from a local CSO and USAID. It shared tips on how to develop approaches to prioritize mental health within an organizational framework, including self-care knowledge and resources for CSOs in Mexico and the region. This webinar has been selected as a guest-hosted session in USAID’s Agency Learning and Evidence Month 2023. Its content and discussion will support the Agency’s learning agenda question on Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility (DEIA): How can USAID programs and operations mitigate harm to underrepresented and marginalized populations, while promoting equity and inclusion?

On December 13, 2022, Social Impact hosted a webinar in our Evidence for Impact series, “Strengthen Your Team’s CLA Practices: Introducing the CLA Maturity Tool for USAID Implementers.” Through the session, we shared more about the origin and history of the USAID tool upon which this version is based, why and how we updated it, and what resources exist to help partners use it. We also had two implementing partners – Winrock Int’l and FHI360 – share their experiences as the first to use the new version of the tool with their teams in Vietnam. Watch the webinar recording to learn more!

On November 16th, Social Impact hosted the "Introducing the Theory of Change Workbook: A Practical Guide for Making Theories of Change Context-Specific and Locally-Driven" webinar as part of our Evidence for Impact Webinar Series. This webinar takes you through a five-step process for theory of change development, provides a real-world example from a Vietnam coastal conservation program, and exposes viewers to a practical how-to theory of change workbook created under the USAID Learns contract in Vietnam.

On October 12, Social Impact hosted the second part of the two-part series, "Sustaining Learning Organizations: The Role of Collaborating, Learning, and Adapting (CLA) and Organizational Development (OD)." This session explored how CLA and OD can be combined to enhance local ownership.

On September 21, Social Impact held the first of our two-part discussion on “Sustaining Learning Organizations: The Role of Collaborating, Learning, and Adapting (CLA) and Organizational Development (OD).” Our experts explored how CLA and OD reinforce each other and examined synergies between CLA and OD that can help create learning organizations and improve development outcomes.

On August 4, our very own Danielle de Garcia sat down with panelists during the Localization and the Future of Evaluation Town Hall, as part of the AEA 365 series, to discuss the implications of shifting to and meaningfully implementing locally-led MEL.

Social Impact conducted the “Developmental Evaluation: What is Fundamental and What is Flexible?” webinar on Tuesday, May 31st to explore the essential principles of developmental evaluation (DE) and how funders adapt them to generate and use evidence. As DE gains traction, organizations are taking advantage of its flexibility to suit their contexts and needs. But how much flexibility is too much and what is really essential? 

On Monday, May 16th, Social Impact hosted the first Evidence for Impact webinar titled Using Evidence and Learning to Shine a Light on Modern Slavery – Participatory Evaluation Techniques to create a space to unpack and exchange ideas on how participatory methods for evidence-gathering can contribute to faster and more effective use of learning in counter-trafficking in persons (CTIP) activities.