Public Policy Student Team from NLS Declared Runners-Up in National India Evaluation Case Competition

We congratulate Abiya Neethu, Aishwarya. S, and Praneeth Talam, students of the Master’s Programme in Public Policy at NLSIU, for being declared runners-up in the National India Evaluation Case Competition!

This annual competition, organised by EVAL YOUTH India Charter, is a high-stakes National-level monitoring and evaluation challenge. The event’s theme was “Online Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation”, which was announced 15 days prior to the competition. On the competition day, a case on Chatbot Intervention related to this theme was released, and the teams had 7 hours to conduct analysis and devise a monitoring and evaluation plan. Overall, 32 teams comprising more than 120 students from across India participated in the competition.

The competition was judged by expert jury members in the Monitoring and Evaluation field, focusing on the M&E approach to the theme. The panel members are listed below:

• Ms. Akanksha Laroiya is a Regional Planner by profession. Her current role in the CITIIS Program Management Unit at the National Institute of Urban Affairs, New Delhi, is to lead the Monitoring and Evaluation Component of the Program.
• Dr. Archna Kumar is a professor in the Department of Development Communication & Extension at Lady Irwin College, University of Delhi and has been involved in teaching and guiding masters and doctoral researches in the department for nearly 30 years.
• Divatia Ami is a doctorate in Resource Management from M. S. University of Baroda in the year 2002. She has a vast experience of academia in the field of Research Methodology for over 25 years at many reputed colleges of Ahmedabad, and is founder of a data consultancy firm.
• Mr. Banda Rao was a member of Indian Statistical Service of Government of India and held various appointments, before he retired in 1995 as Deputy Adviser (Labour, Employment and Manpower) in the then Planning Commission. He is also a member of Evaluation Community of India.
• Dr. Prabhu has over 19 years of experience in Monitoring and Evaluation and large-scale health survey expertise. He is a doctorate in Demography/Population Science and has conceptualized, designed, developed, managed and implemented the M&E in diverse projects.
• Vivek Khanna, is a development sector evaluation professional with close to 19 years of experience. He has spent significant amount of time working with organizations of the likes of Nielsen, GfK, Kantar and Sambodhi managing project supported by some of the largest donors such as  The World Bank, UN agencies, ADB as well as private foundations such as The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundations. His expertise lies in designing and execution of end to end research and evaluation projects.

While the competition was held in August, the results were announced recently in October 2023. The NLS Team ‘Cratos’ clinched the second position in the event. We asked the team to share more about their experience in the competition.

Reflections by the Team

Abiya Neethu, an engineer, delves into policy studies with a keen focus on harnessing technology for governance. Her interests span Technology policy, health policy, labour studies, and gender policy.

“In the competition, I presented practical insights gained from my role in Project Tulir, guided by the esteemed District Collector, Dr. Alby John Varghese, in Tiruvallur District, Tamil Nadu. I adeptly formulated evaluation indicators, drawing on field experience and extensive multi-stakeholder consultations from the District Development Internship program. Collaborating as a team, we overcame the tight time constraints. Manoeuvring through the integration of theoretical and practical knowledge in the competitive arena was not only rewarding but also a memorable experience.”

Praneeth Talam, a Tata Institute of Social Sciences graduate with a background in social science, is passionate about inclusive social policy and specialises in monitoring and evaluating CSR sector interventions.

“During the competition, navigating this sensitive, non-mainstream topic demanded significant short-term effort from the team to understand the technicalities and devise an effective evaluation plan. Researching intervention effects, stakeholders, and causal relationships consumed substantial time, making the subsequent evaluation plan smoother in comparison.”

Aishwarya S, who graduated with a bachelor’s degree in psychology, shifted to the policy domain to pursue a career in behavioural science within policy-making. Her professional focus is on monitoring and evaluation in the development sector, backed by prior internships in related consultancies. She is deeply passionate about policy areas such as labour, water governance, land, and livelihood development.

“In the competition, our team transformed theoretical knowledge of online child sexual abuse into practical implementation through a robust monitoring and evaluation system. Selecting quantifiable indicators for this complex topic posed a challenge, but dedicating more time to initial brainstorming and planning made the subsequent report-writing smoother. Overall, the experience was both educational and memorable, despite the pressure of meeting a tight deadline.” 

The NLS team shared that their experience in the competition was further enriched by three capacity-building workshops conducted by field experts, enhancing their monitoring and evaluation skills, especially in addressing the critical issue of online child safety. “As a team, we would like to express our heartfelt thanks to our faculty of  the MPP Programme at NLS, and especially to Dr. Sudipa Sarkar for mentorship in Monitoring and Evaluation, and Prof. Sony Peliserry, who taught us various tools for policy analysis, which proved invaluable during the competition,” they said.

About the Competition

India Evaluation Case Competition(IECC) is an initiative conceptualized by EvalYouth India. The primary objective of this competition is to attract bright, young minds to the field of evaluation and inspire them to contribute to this field in a meaningful way throughout their careers. IECC introduces young and emerging evaluators (YEEs), i.e. college students, to learn and experience through a hands-on approach and interactive knowledge sessions to gain in depth understanding of the M&E process. Then, they will apply their learnings by engaging in practical M&E tasks. The IECC jury, comprising highly accomplished professionals in the field of evaluation, will critically assess the work presented by the YEEs.

The event was conducted with collaborators such as EvalYouth India, Evaluation Community of India, Eval Youth Asia Chapter, and Development Solutions INC.