On May 2^nd Juha Uitto participated in the First Meetings of the Subsidiary Body on Implementation (SBI) of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). This high level event created an excellent opportunity to discuss the findings of the IEO Impact Evaluation of the GEF Support to Protected Areas and Protected Ares Systems.

On April 26 Juha Uitto took part in the 19^th Meeting of the DAC Network on Development Evaluation. Mr. Uitto presented at the session on the Use of New Technologies in M&E and Implications for Evaluation. His speech on the Use of Big Data in Environmental Evaluation focused on opportunities to use big data in the context of SDGs and the GEF IEO experience in using remote sensing, propensity score matching, and planetary level cloud computing in recent impact evaluations.

The objective of this webinar is to discuss how the use and influence of evaluations can be enhanced via a meaningful stakeholder engagement. Members of the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and partner organizations will share practical experience in involving stakeholders and beneficiaries while keeping evaluation independent.

What did the 2^nd joint evaluation of the SGPs find?

The Independent Evaluation Offices of GEF and UNDP held webinar discussions in English, French and Spanish about the lessons stemming from the Second Joint Evaluation of the Small Grants Program (SGP). More than 70 national and regional coordinators, members of the Central Program Management Team (CPMT) and other SGP stakeholders attended the discussions. The webinars provided insights into the joint evaluation and touch upon its scope, methods used, findings and recommendations.

The GEF Independent Evaluation Office organized a webinar on Rapid Impact Evaluation (RIE). Andy Rowe, from ARCeconomics presented at the webinar. The event was moderated by Juha I Uitto, GEF Independent Evaluation Office.