global marathon of engagement

Dr. Natalia Kanem, UNFPA Executive Director delivered a keynote address at the event and officially launched the campaign. Ms. Jayathma Wickramanayake, UN Secretary-General’s Envoy on Youth, delivered opening remarks highlighting the alignment and relevance of Eval4Action to the UN Youth Strategy 2030 and the importance of strengthening youth-led accountability processes to achieve the SDGs. The opening statements also highlighted the alignment and relevance of Eval4Action during the UN Secretary-General’s Decade of Action and the key role of young and emerging evaluators in accelerating progress towards the SDGs. 

 

The campaign co-leaders Khalil Bitar, Marco Segone and Hon. Kabir Hashim, representing EvalYouth Global Network, UNFPA and the Global Parliamentarians Forum for Evaluation respectively, articulated the importance of multi-stakeholder and multi-sectoral advocacy during the Decade of Action, and the relevance of Eval4Action to this agenda. 

 

The Global Marathon of Engagement generated momentum among the nearly 300 participants including youth, who attended the virtual event. About 70 motivational statements of engagement were delivered at the Marathon from around the world, with young evaluators taking center stage. 

 

The motivational statements kickstarted a series of regional consultations to build multi-stakeholder partnerships for influential evaluation at the regional and national level.