“It is a good workshop equipped with all the important aspects of strategic decision making”.
In collaboration of Centre for Learning on Evaluation and Results for Pakistan and Central Asia (CLEAR PCA) and Centre for Economic Research (CERP), the Balochistan Civil Service Academy (BCSA) – a provincial training academy for civil servants – organised a two-day capacity building workshop titled “Strategic Approaches to Policy Decision-Making” on 21-22 May 2025 in Quetta.
This initiative is a result of the formal Memorandum of Understanding between CLEAR PCA | CERP and BCSA, solidifying a long-term partnership dedicated to enhancing the capabilities and professional development of government officials through needs-based and demand-driven specialized training programs and workshops.
In Pakistan, monitoring and evaluation are seldom viewed as a window for knowledge sharing and learning to improve policy and public investment decisions across the government at national and subnational levels. This, coupled with significant attention on process monitoring and existing capacity gaps within the government, has led to a weak demand for M&E reform, making it difficult to challenge the status quo and improve policy outcomes. Against this backdrop, the collaboration between CLEAR PCA and BCSA to organize and deliver demand-driven capacity-building measures tailored to local needs is a positive step. It is expected to encourage greater demand for data and the use of evidence for effective policy decision-making, ultimately contributing to enhanced well-being.
The workshop was attended by 25 officials (21 male, 4 female) participants from different government line departments, district administration, and academia. The participation in the workshop was through formal nomination done by the senior management of the respective government departments. Designed specifically for civil servants and mid-career policy practitioners, the workshop aimed to strengthen their skills in evidence-based policy formulation and strategic decision-making.
The workshop covered different strategic approaches to policy decision-making through interactive presentation sessions covering topics such as system approaches to policy decision-making, theory of change, cost-benefit analysis, cost-effectiveness analysis, decision trees, and policy analysis. The participants also went through simulation exercises based on real-world case studies drawn from different sectors and themes, such as WASH and female labour participation, relevant to the local policy environment. This hands-on approach helped participants understand how to utilize various quantitative and qualitative tools for informed and evidence-based policy decision-making in a local context. Participants also collaborated in teams, delivering group presentations on their case study solutions, thereby improving both their interpersonal and presentation skills.
“Unlike other policy training that mainly focuses on theory, this workshop stood out for its hands-on learning, interactive case studies, and localised examples”.
For the first time, faculty members from leading universities in the province were engaged alongside provincial policy practitioners, providing them with a platform for collaboration, firsthand learning, and knowledge-sharing experiences regarding evidence-based strategic decision-making. As one participant, representing a prominent university in Balochistan, noted, “the workshop on SPDM provided a valuable platform for fostering collaborative dialogue and equipping participants with practical tools to address strategic approaches to policy decision-making.”
The workshop concluded with overwhelmingly positive feedback from participants regarding the course content, delivery, relevancy, and potential effectiveness. Moving forward, these positive sentiments are expected to bolster the culture of evidence-based policy making, thereby generating increased demand for embedding M&E-related institutional reforms across the government for improved policy outcomes.
