Quantifying Impact: Strategies for Monitoring and Evaluating Technical Assistance and Capacity Building

October 6, 2025

The 2025 WIPO Technical Assistance Webinar Series successfully concluded on Tuesday, September 2, 2025, with a final session on “Quantifying Impact: Strategies for Monitoring and Evaluating Technical Assistance and Capacity Building.”   

The closing webinar highlighted strategies to assess and strengthen the long-term impact of technical assistance initiatives,  providing a fitting conclusion to a year of valuable learning.

Under the Development Agenda Framework, the final webinar of the 2025 WIPO Technical Assistance Webinar Series - “Quantifying Impact: Strategies for Monitoring and Evaluating Technical Assistance and Capacity Building” - brought together experts from diverse regions and backgrounds.  Held virtually via Zoom, the session explored how effective monitoring and evaluation can measure, enhance and sustain the impact of technical assistance initiatives, ensuring WIPO’s
capacity-building efforts deliver lasting benefits in supporting innovation.

The webinar attracted strong participation, with over 690 attendees from more than 140 countries.  Participants actively engaged with the panelists throughout the discussion and during the interactive Q&A session, underscoring the global relevance of the topic.  The full session is available in English, French, and Spanish.

The session was moderated by Ms. Maya Bachner, Assistant Controller and Director of WIPO’s Planning, Budget and Risk Management Division, who highlighted the close link between the topic and her work.  She underscored the importance of monitoring and evaluation as tools to strengthen technical assistance and capacity-building projects, ensuring they deliver sustainable impact.

Building on this perspective, Dr. Hisham Azmi, Chairman of the Egyptian Intellectual Property Authority, underscored the role of technical assistance and capacity-building in enhancing skills and capabilities of individuals, institutions and communities.  He stressed that successful project implementation should be guided by clear outcomes and measurable impacts, with monitoring and evaluation tools used strategically to stay on course.  Dr. Azmi concluded by noting that truly effective implementation is defined by sustainable results and long-lasting benefits.

Following this, Ms. Daniela Zlatić Šutić, Assistant Director of the Intellectual Property Office of the Republic of Serbia, shared her office’s experiences in advancing operational improvements and their impact on national IP services.  She highlighted WIPO’s effective collaboration on projects that left a lasting mark, including the transition from a traditional filing system to e-filing in 2016, as well as broader initiatives driving the digital transformation of Serbia’s IP Office.  Her presentation also emphasized the development of SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound) indicators to strengthen monitoring and evaluation processes and ensure that technical assistance projects deliver sustainable outcomes.

Continuing the discussion, Mr. Brook Boyer, Director of the Strategic Planning and Performance Division at the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), noted that technical assistance projects often create ripple effects that may fade quickly or result in broader, lasting change.  He underscored that effective evaluation depends on attributing impact to the intervention through reliable measurement criteria, highlighting the Kirkpatrick/Phillips Evaluation Approach as a valuable tool for assessing training programs.  Mr. Boyer also outlined key prerequisites for success, including thorough preparation at the outset, identifying lead indicators, designing realistic pathways and anticipating risks.  He concluded by stressing the importance of continuous monitoring, review, learning and adaptation, as there is no one-size-fits-all model for ensuring effective project implementation.

Concluding the panel, Ms. Melissa Andrade, Director of Nike Consultoria in Brazil shared her experience evaluating WIPO’s technical assistance and capacity-building projects.  She highlighted that collaboration between external evaluators and the WIPO team is central to effective monitoring and evaluation.  Ms. Andrade also touched on the benefits of working with development consultants from outside the IP field, as their perspectives fostered discussions beyond the usual narrative.  She concluded with recommendations to strengthen engagement in the evaluation process, including the use of visually appealing content to communicate results to WIPO staff, Member States, and the public.

In summary, the webinar focused on the following:

• The importance of monitoring and evaluation as tools to strengthen technical assistance and capacity-building initiatives.
• The need for clear outcomes, measurable impacts and SMART indicators to guide effective project implementation.
• Practical evaluation approaches and frameworks, including methods to anticipate risks and adapt to challenges.
• The value of collaboration with diverse stakeholders and innovative communication methods to share results effectively.

The webinar was part of a WIPO series, launched by the Committee on Development and Intellectual Property (CDIP), to highlight the benefits of technical assistance and capacity-building initiatives.

The 2026 Technical Assistance Webinar Series will be announced soon. Building on this year’s success, it will continue to foster knowledge-sharing and collaboration in capacity-building.

Stay tuned!