Xin Xin Yang is a Multi-Country Evaluation Specialist at UNICEF, working with China, DPRK, and Mongolia Country Offices. She is an international development practitioner with more than 20 years of experience. Before joining UNICEF, Xin Xin conducted complex evaluations (often in a team leader's role) commissioned by various U.N. agencies, IFIs, and bilateral donors.
In the early stage of her career, Xin Xin worked in the Legal Vice Presidency of the World Bank in Washington, D.C. She is fluent in English and Chinese, with working knowledge in French. She received LLMs from Yale Law School and Beijing University and obtained an MPA in international development from the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University.
China
Xin Xin Yang
UNICEF
Posted on 20/05/2025
The third week of the discussion continued to build on the methodological insights from the first two weeks, with a sustained focus on learning-oriented approaches. In addition, an important new dimension was introduced: adaptive evaluation management.
· Learning-Oriented Evaluation Methods
Claudia F C (Gavi) emphasized the need for evaluation methods that prioritize learning over accountability, particularly to capture intangible benefits and emergent change within SSTC. Drawing on her experience with multi-country and multi-stakeholder initiatives, she suggested several innovative methodologies: Outcome Harvesting, Most Significant Change, Networks and Systems Mapping, and Developmental Evaluation. These methods are well-suited to understanding influence, relationships, knowledge diffusion, and mutual learning systems, all of which are central to SSTC.
· Adaptive Evaluation Management
Pietro Tornese emphasized the importance of adaptive evaluation management in SSTC, where diverse stakeholders and dynamic contexts require flexibility. Adaptive approaches help evaluators adjust questions and methods in real time, enabling them to capture emerging outcomes like new partnerships and policy changes. Crucially, this approach also fosters ownership and strengthens evaluation capacity in the Global South by engaging local actors as active participants rather than passive data providers.
China
Xin Xin Yang
UNICEF
Posted on 13/05/2025
During the second week of the discussion, the EvalForEarth community shared valuable insights on the evaluation of South-South and Triangular Cooperation (SSTC), reflecting a wide range of perspectives from different regions and institutions. The following key themes emerged:
Ventura Mufume (Associação Moçambicana de Monitoria e Avaliação) Despite growing South-South commercial ties, limited access to internet, electricity, and digital infrastructure—especially in rural and peri-urban areas—remains a major barrier to exchanging evaluation practices and achieving inclusive cooperation.
Hailu Negu (Ethiopian Electric Power). To maximize the impact of South-South and Triangular Cooperation in today’s evolving aid architecture, robust, participatory, and context-sensitive evaluation systems are essential to ensure accountability, mutual learning, and evidence-based decision-making that align with the SDGs and foster inclusive development.
Mariana Vidal Merino (Adaptation Fund Technical Evaluation Reference Group) While SSTC holds great promise—particularly for climate adaptation through peer learning, technical assistance, and shared solutions—the lack of dedicated evaluation frameworks risks it being perceived as symbolic rather than a substantive tool for development, underscoring the need for integrated and evidence-based assessment approaches.
Eddah Kanini (Board Member: AfrEA, AGDEN & MEPAK) Evaluating SSTC requires co-created, qualitative approaches that reflect Southern values and capture relational, process-based outcomes—such as mutual learning and capacity exchange—which are often missed due to the absence of SSTC-specific frameworks and limited documentation of success beyond outputs.
Marlene Roefs (Wageningen Centre for Development Innovation – WCDI) To enhance the evaluation of complex SSTC and multistakeholder interventions, it is valuable to incorporate partners’ diverse criteria for success, address contextual power dynamics, and explore participatory, experience-based evaluation approaches that actively involve decision-makers in the entire evaluation process.
📣 Please Join the Conversation
Contribute your insights to the ongoing EvalForEarth discussion on evaluating South-South and Triangular Cooperation:
🔗 https://lnkd.in/gnB-3Eaw
China
Xin Xin Yang
UNICEF
Posted on 28/04/2025
I would like to share the UNICEF evaluation report on the Brazil-UNICEF Trilateral South-South Cooperation Programme (P04_Final_report_UNICEF_Jan29). The evaluation aimed to generate knowledge of successful strategies for promoting South-South Cooperation (SSC), particularly in the application of SSC principles. It also documented results at both output and outcome levels, with a focus on human rights, gender, and vulnerable populations.
China
Xin Xin Yang
UNICEF
Posted on 05/05/2025
The discussion on Evaluating South-South and Triangular Cooperation is now entering its 2nd week!
Week 1 featured a vibrant exchange of ideas from global evaluation experts, unpacking how to strengthen the evaluation of SSTC in a shifting aid landscape.
Highlights from Week 1 contributors:
Carlos Tarazona (FAO) emphasized the importance of moving beyond traditional donor-recipient dynamics, advocating for demand-driven approaches and using participatory evaluation to ensure national ownership and relevance.
Zhiqi X. (Erasmus University) encouraged attention to grassroots actors and suggested applying behavioral science and people-centered methodologies to evaluate intangible outcomes.
Vinesh P.(Canopy and Culture) highlighted participatory methods like outcome mapping and community-led storytelling to better reflect lived experiences and co-created change.
Serdar Bayryyev (FAO) underscored the importance of multi-stakeholder partnerships and participatory engagement, aligning with the principles of the 2030 Agenda.
As we step into Week 2, we invite you to contribute your experiences, tools, and reflections:
- What innovative methods have you used to evaluate SSTC?
- How can we better capture mutual learning, ownership, and intangible benefits?
👉 Join the discussion here: https://lnkd.in/gnB-3Eaw
Let’s co-create stronger frameworks for evaluating SSTC that reflect the values of solidarity, equity, and mutual accountability.