Evaluation in Development Agencies

The evaluation of official development programmes has grown tremendously over the past two decades; the public and taxpayers increasingly demand credible assessments of whether aid "works" to improve the lives of the world’s poorest. Global efforts to hold donors and partners accountable for the outcomes of development co-operation have also contributed to the growing interest in evaluation.  In this context, this study describes the role and management of evaluation in development agencies and multilateral banks, based on questionnaires, findings from peer reviews by the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC), interviews and a literature review. The study includes information about the specific institutional settings, resources, policies and practices of each of the DAC Evaluation Network’s 32 members. The study identifies major trends and current challenges in development evaluation, covering: human and financial resources, institutional set-ups and policies, independence of the evaluation function, reporting and use of evaluation findings, management response systems, donor co-ordination, joint evaluation, and the involvement of partner countries in evaluation work. This study is part of the DAC Network on Development Evaluation’s ongoing efforts to increase the effectiveness of development co-operation policies and programmes by promoting high-quality, independent evaluation.