Country-led Development Evaluation The Donor Role in Supporting Partner Ownership and Capacity Mr. Hans Lundgren March 2009

What is Evaluation Capacity? Evaluation Capacity Development (ECD): unleashing, strengthening and maintaining evaluation capacity. Evaluation system: from setting the agenda to technical skills, demand for evaluation, design, feedback and learning, etc. 3 Levels of capacity: Individual Institutional Accountability Environment Evaluation capacity is the ability of people and organisations to define and achieve their evaluation objectives. Individual = analytical skills, Organisational = manage data collection and implement evaluation findings Enabling environment = accountability, press, public interest

Key elements in ECD knowledge base Fact finding study on ECD Member and partner country experiences Work by MDBs and UN, studies by IEG IOCE publication “Creating and Developing Evaluation Organisations” DAC’s Good Practice document on Capacity Development (2006) UNICEF et al, “Country-led monitoring and evaluation systems” (2008) Evaluation tools, norms & standards Individual work 2006 Guidance for Managing Joint Evaluations (dropped multi-donor) Support to communities of practice, World Bank training, SHIPDET, IPDET, IDEAS

15 Emerging Lessons Capacity development must be locally-owned and driven throughout the process. Start with evidence based, partner-led needs assessment. Tailor to context, partner needs and interests. Work to support, not import. Donors can: consolidate and disseminate good evaluation practice, provide incentives, share expertise and resources. Emerging lessons on how donors can best support partner capacity development for evaluation. address enabling environment and organisational factors One of the best ways to build capacity is by using it. Building trust builds ownership…if you always assume partners don’t have evaluation capacity, they will never grow to have it.

Emerging Lessons Build capacity by using it: Do joint evaluation work that meets partner (as well as donor) evaluation needs, involve trainees in real evaluations. Trust: Enable active partner leadership by ceding control of evaluation processes. : address enabling environment and organisational factors One of the best ways to build capacity is by using it. Building trust builds ownership…if you always assume partners don’t have evaluation capacity, they will never grow to have it.

Emerging Lessons Look at both supply and demand for evaluation. Demonstrate utility and benefits of evaluation to stakeholders. Gain political support for evaluation system reforms. Cultivate networks of skilled “evaluation champions.”

Emerging Lessons Support peer-to-peer learning between partner countries. Co-ordinate interventions with other agencies, private sector, civil society, etc. Capacity development needs, goals and funding should be included in programme and evaluation plans, MOUs, budgets, PRSPs, JASs, etc.

Emerging Lessons Move beyond isolated individual training to work on: incentives, institutional cultures, results based management, law, governance. Support an environment of domestic accountability: freedom of expression, strong civil society, critical press, participatory development, etc.

Current Challenges and Issues How to meet both partner and donor evaluation needs (learning and accountability) in joint processes? Partner systems must serve purposes beyond aid evaluation. Links between evaluation work and partner governance and domestic accountability. What are the indirect (unintended) impacts of donor evaluation policies and practices on partner country evaluation systems? Issues to consider: challenges and opportunities for improved partner country ownership and capacity of development evaluation systems. Joint approaches and the transition to partner-led development evaluation raise the question of how to most effectively meet the sometimes divergent accountability and learning needs of donors, beneficiaries and partners. Partners must own development processes – including evaluations of development co-operation.

How do we move forward? Learn more about how to support partner country evaluation capacity in the way we plan and implement evaluations of development co-operation. Link with partners and find opportunities to collaborate. Continue to share experiences and evaluation resources. Facilitate more joint work with partners. Consolidate lessons into practical tips for donor evaluation commissioners. Much experience, lots of information, need to stay focused on what our members are capable of in their own mandates, and what limitations are to their active engagement on capacity – often falls under auspices of other departments. How can member and joint work support partner capacity growth? Our niche: focus on feasible member contribution and value-added of DAC

Your comments and suggestions are welcome! Hans.Lundgren@OECD.org www.oecd.org/DAC/EvaluationNetwork