2022 Speakers

Dr. Anastasia Aladysheva is an Impact Evaluation Officer at the IEU LORTA programme. Before joining the IEU, she worked in the field of impact evaluations of development, humanitarian, and peacebuilding programmes for over 10 years. She worked at the International Committee of the Red Cross, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, and the World Bank. Anastasia holds a PhD in Development Economics from the Graduate Institute in Geneva. 

Dr. Arsenio Balisacan is an economist with extensive development policy, governance, and administration expertise acquired from over 35 years of professional work as a government official, non-governmental organization executive, economic adviser, researcher, and professor. Dr. Balisacan is presently the Secretary of the National Economic and Development Authority, a post he had previously held from 2012 to 2016. He also served as the inaugural Chairperson of the Philippine Competition Commission from 2016 to 2022. Previous to his Cabinet appointment in 2012, he was Dean of the UP School of Economics, Director-Chief Executive of the Southeast Asian Regional Centre for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA), and Undersecretary for Policy and Planning of the Department of Agriculture. Dr. Balisacan was also a Research Fellow at the East-West Center in Honolulu and Economist at the World Bank in Washington, DC. He has written extensively on various development issues in books and academic papers, both locally and internationally.  He holds a PhD in Economics from the University of Hawaii, MS in Agricultural Economics from the University of the Philippines Los Baños, and BS in Agriculture from the Mariano Marcos State University. 

Dr. Christopher Bartlett has been living and working in the Pacific Islands for over two decades, and is currently managing the Government of Vanuatu's Climate Diplomacy program.  His extensive work with communities, civil society, private sector and governments in the Pacific has shaped his current climate action interests around climate adaptation, biodiversity, development finance and loss & damage.  After being awarded a PhD at James Cook University, he joined Nobel Laureate Elinor Ostrom's lab at Indiana University as a post doc focusing on global multidimensional resource management problems. Dr. Bartlett has written dozens of climate policy documents, managed the implementation of multiple national climate change projects, and serves as the lead negotiator on Loss & Damage for the Republic of Vanuatu. 

Geeta Batra is currently Chief Evaluator and Deputy Director for evaluation at the Independent Evaluation Office of the GEF. She has over 25 years of experience in international development, including 15 years of experience in program evaluation. She joined the World Bank after spending two years at American Express in New York where she was a senior manager of risk. She joined the World Bank's private sector development department for seven years (1998-2005) implementing competitiveness projects in East Asia and Latin America, and then with the International Finance Corporation as head and chief evaluator for the IFC advisory services portfolio. She subsequently joined the Independent Evaluation Group of the World Bank as chief evaluator and manager for country and corporate thematic evaluations. In 2015 she joined the Independent Evaluation Office of the Global Environment Facility as Chief Evaluator and Deputy Director. In her current role she manages a team of evaluation professionals, and provides oversight on the design, implementation and quality of evaluations. Geeta has co-authored books and articles and managed over 100 evaluations. She has a Ph.D. in Economics and an M.BA in Finance.

Sabine Bernabè is Head of Evaluation at the European Investment Bank. The EIB Evaluation Division produces a wide range of evaluation products, including corporate, thematic, project and impact evaluations on EIB Group activities both inside and outside the EU. Sabine has more than 20 years of experience in evaluation, research, policy and academia. Prior to joining EV, she had a career as an economist in a variety of international organisations, including the EIB, World Bank and UNDP. She holds a PhD from the London School of Economics (UK) and a Masters from Bocconi University (IT) and has various publications encompassing income distribution, poverty and labour market issues in developing and transition countries. 

Mr. Aniruddha Brahmachari is a social sector professional with more than 24 years of experience in programme management, Monitoring & Evaluation. Aniruddha, presently heads the Research Operations and M&E function at LEAD@KREA University, India. He also leads the SWAYAM initiative with NRLM. Aniruddha is also the Co-Founder and Co-Leader of Evaluation Community of India and Board Member of Asia Pacific Evaluation Association. Aniruddha also founded the Inter-regional Initiative for Professionalization of Evaluation. An initiative for the professionalization of evaluation to promote quality, credible and independent evidence for informed policymaking, in the context of the SDGs era, through in-country capacity strengthening at individual and institutional levels. Presently, Aniruddha is the APEA representative in the Management Committee of EvalGender+ and Global Parliamentarians forum on Evaluation, and Board Member IOCE. He has also authored many papers and edited three books.   

Eva Cassel is the EBRD Board Director for Sweden, Iceland and Estonia and Vice Chair of the Audit Committee. Prior to EBRD, Ms Cassel was at the Swedish National Debt Office with responsibility for Guarantee and Loan facilities (2011 - 2019), having previously held a seconded position as a National Expert in the European Commission for negotiation of financing rules within Renewable Energy, Water and Climate Change Mitigation projects. (2007-2011). Also a Board Member for SADEV (2006-2012). Ms Cassel has held positions as Director at EKN – Swedish Export Credits Guarantee Board (2000-2007), Senior Economist at SIDA (1999-2000), and Special Adviser at the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs (1995-1999). In the 90’s Ms Cassel was Regional Manager with responsibility for sub-Saharan Africa and Asia at EKN (1992-1994 and 1987-1990) and working as an Economist for FAO based in Cotonou, Benin (1990-1992). Eva Cassel holds an MSc in Economics, University of Stockholm. 

Mr. Collyns joined the Independent Evaluation Office of the IMF as Director in February 2017, after working as Managing Director and Chief Economist at the Institute of International Finance for 3 1/2 years.    He served as Assistant Secretary for International Finance at the US Treasury Department from February 2010 to July 2013. Prior to joining Treasury, he worked at the IMF, including as Deputy Director in the Research Department responsible for the World Economic Outlook and Deputy Director in the Western Hemisphere Department.    He holds a doctorate in economics from the University of Oxford and a BA from the University of Cambridge. 

Ingrid Dallmann is an Impact Evaluation officer at the Evaluation and Learning division of the French Development Agency (Agence Française du Développement, AFD).     In the AFD, she evaluates projects focused on the climate, transport, and digital sectors. She also cooperates in the application of geospatial data in project evaluations and leads a partnership between the AFD and researchers to conduct impact evaluations.     Before the AFD, she worked as a consultant for the World Bank and the private sector in projects related to impact evaluation, poverty measuring, and disaster risk management.     She holds a PhD in Economics from the Paris-Saclay University, and has focused her research on the impact of climate change on several socio-economic factors. 

Mr. Darío García de Viedma works as a Product Manager at Citibeats. He and his team work in conceptualizing a technology that helps decision-makers prevent the next crisis, by analysing open source data with NLP algorithms in an ethical way.    He led the design of the Social Indicators, thanks to an alliance with Princeton and NYU scholars. These are metrics, reported real-time, that measure deep feelings in society such as civic unrest, polarization, perception of inflation, empowerment, and distrust.    Prior to working as a Product Manager, Mr. García de Viedma worked as a Social Data Analyst for Citibeats, being a trusted advisor for different institutions such as the Inter-American Development Bank, the Organisation of the American States, and the United Nations Development Program.     Mr. García de Viedma completed a Bachelor’s Degree in Social Sciences (Sciences Po) and a Master’s of Science in Social Research Methods (London School of Economics).   

Alper Dincer is a Principal Evaluator at the Independent Evaluation Department (EvD) of European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).  Alper designs, prepares and delivers complex, multi-project evaluations using appropriate independent research, analysis and other evaluation tools. Since 2019, he has worked on a range of evaluation products including a synthesis piece bringing together lessons from IFIs’ climate finance interventions.  Prior to his appointment at the EvD, Alper was a Principal Economist at the EBRD. In this capacity, he assessed the impact of EBRD projects on employment, access to services and gender equality; contributed to the development of the EBRD’s Economic Inclusion Strategy and ex-ante impact assessment tool.  Alper’s earlier work focussed on quasi-experimental impact evaluation. This includes assignments at the OECD and Sabanci University’s Education Reform Initiative. Alper has a PhD from Columbia University and his academic work is published in World Development and International Journal of Educational Development.   

Warren Evans has 41 years of sustainable development and climate change experience from multilateral development banks, private organizations, and other international organizations. He first joined ADB in March 1988 and during the 15-year tenure, he undertook progressing roles from Environmental Specialist to Director of the Environmental and Social Safeguards Division. In his last role, he provided overall direction and external representation for environmental programs, Green Environment Facility, Global Multilateral Environmental Agreements among others. From 2003 to 2013, he worked at World Bank as Environment Director and Senior Advisor for Sustainable Development. During this period, he led the establishment of the Climate Investment Funds and supported the Senior Management on a range of issues such as climate change, biodiversity conservation, and institutional operations. He served as Senior Advisor Consultant from 2013 to 2017 where he provided advisory service on a variety of strategic issues on sustainable development and climate change. He returned to ADB as Special Project Facilitator in September 2017. He has led the problem-solving function, keeping the accountability mechanism effective. He has also significantly contributed to ADB’s efforts in promoting climate initiatives through his support in the preparation of Climate COP 26. Warren Evans is appointed Special Senior Advisor (Climate Change), Office of the President (OPR) effective 18 September 2022. As Special Senior Advisor (Climate Change), he will lead the review of climate finance, improve the quality of climate projects, strengthen ADB’s external climate partnerships, and reinforce capacity development for climate change operation. 

Dr. Foster is a Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor) in Water-Food Security in the Department of Mechanical, Aerospace and Civil Engineering at the University of Manchester in the UK. He has over 10 years of experience working on agricultural water management and climate risk management in North America, Europe, Africa, and Asia. His research uses crop models, earth observation, and economic analysis to understand and improve decision-making about land, water and energy use in crop production. He uses insights from this work to design policies and technologies that support sustainable farming systems and rural economies, with a specific focus on development of novel tools for reducing exposure of agricultural to climate and water scarcity risks. 

As Director of the UNDP’s Independent Evaluation Office, he provides strategic direction, thought leadership and credible evaluations to advance UNDP work in helping countries progress towards national SDG achievement. Oscar also currently serves as the Chairperson of the United Nations Evaluation Group (UNEG). He has more than 25 years of experience in areas of strategic planning, evaluation, results-based management, agriculture, rural development, environment, natural resource management, poverty reduction, and human development. Prior to joining the IEO as Director in 2020, he served as Director of IFAD’s Independent Office of Evaluation (IOE), and Head of Advisory Services for Green Economy, UNEP. Oscar has authored books and articles on development evaluation, including one on Information and Communication Technology for evaluation. He is an Economist with a master’s degree in Organizational Change Management, New School University (NY), and an MBA from Bolivian Catholic University, in association with the Harvard Institute for International Development. 

Mr. Zakaria Hanafi is a seasoned international development professional with over 17 years of experience in international development, technical assistance, civil society, and governance programs. Mr. Hanafi is an effective convener and institutional representative with multi-regional and sectoral experience, focused on leveraging industry-wide knowledge and best practices in shaping programming, operational policies, and procedures.   Mr. Hanafi has regional expertise in the Middle East and North Africa, Sub Saharan Africa, Eurasia, the Caribbean, and Latin America regions, including extensive experience with the U.S. Government assistance mechanisms with a focus on capacity building, legal and institutional reforms and engagement of civil society organizations. Zakaria holds a Bachelor’s degree in International Business and a Master’s degree (Honors Program) in International Relations from Georgetown University in Washington, DC. Mr. Hanafi speaks and writes in five languages namely English, French, Arabic, Italian, and Spanish. Also, he is a life member of Georgetown’s International Scholars Honor Society.