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United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Independent Evaluation Office (IEO) Evaluation Mandate UNDP conducts evaluations within two different categories: independent centralised evaluations conducted by the Independent Evaluation Office (IEO) and decentralised evaluations commissioned by programme units, including country offices, regional bureaus, and practice and policy bureaus. The core function of the IEO is to conduct thematic and programmatic evaluations. The IEO also prepares the Annual Report on Evaluation, sets standards and guidelines on evaluation, monitors compliance on evaluation and shares lessons for improved programming (UNDP 2016). Its mandate therefore covers the following overall functions: •
governance and accountability (recording and reporting)
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conduct of independent evaluations (planning and conducting evaluations)
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partnership and knowledge management (outreach and learning)
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united nations reform (harmonisation and joint evaluations)
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management (IEO budget and recruitment)
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decentralised evaluations (standards, methodology and good practice)
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national evaluation capacity development.
Evaluation within the UNDP is guided by an Evaluation Policy (UNDP 2011a), supported by a set of Ethical Guidelines and a Handbook on Planning, Monitoring and Evaluating for Development Results (UNDP 2009, addendum UNDP 2011b). The existing evaluation policy was released in 2011 and independently reviewed in 2014. A revised evaluation policy was drafted for Board consideration in 2015 including specific measures to strengthen the system for decentralised evaluations. Subject to clarification and final adjustments in respect of roles and responsibilities of the IEO and UNDP management, agreement on a revised policy is expected in 2016. Organisational Structure and Reporting Lines The IEO reports to the UNDP Executive Board and is functioning as an independent body. The IEO is headed by a Director, who has full authority over the conduct and content of evaluations and presents them directly to the Executive Board. Evaluation work plans are derived from the organisational four-year strategy and subject to approval by the Executive Board (UNDP 2016). While the IEO is the custodian of the evaluation function, the Executive Board is the custodian of the Evaluation Policy. The Executive Board:
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approves the evaluation policy and considers the annual reports on its implementation
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ensures the independence of the evaluation function
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requires management response and follow-up to all evaluations by UNDP
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uses and draws on the findings and recommendations of evaluations for oversight and approval of corporate policy, strategy and programmes;
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reviews and approves the management responses to independent evaluations
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requests periodically the IEO to commission an independent review of the evaluation policy.
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Central/main evaluation units
High level policy groups or ministries
Reporting line
Administrator
Independent Evaluation Office Associate Administrator
Executive Office
Types of Evaluation • Thematic evaluations • Sector-wide evaluations • Programme evaluations • Country evaluations
The IEO adheres to the OECD DAC Quality Standards for Development Evaluation and uses them as the reference point for quality control of evaluation process and products.
Resources Snapshot of evaluation resources UNDP
The IEO has a total staff of 24, which has increased slightly during the past five years. This is reflecting a change in focus upon staff as evaluators, representing a shift towards reduced reliance on external consultants. The role of external consultants is limited to technical inputs and IEO staff are the principal authors and responsible evaluators. In the past five years, close to 40 thematic, programme and country evaluations have been carried out by the IEO. This is expected to increase in the future with additional evaluability assessments in reference to the Sustainable Development Goals and the 2030 Agenda. Centralised evaluations undertaken by the IEO are funded under the IEO’s budget, which is approved by the Executive Board
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Head / Director / Assistant Director
Professional evaluation staff
Administrative / Support staff EUR 7.6 million 0.16% of the ODA budget 11
Average evaluations produced per year (6-10 country programme evaluations, 3-4 thematic / corporate evaluations)
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on a biennial basis. The evaluation budget has decreased during the past five years and is currently roughly EUR 7.6 million. Decentralised evaluations are funded within operational budgets of the respective country office or other unit. A total of 240 decentralised outcome and project evaluations were undertaken in 2015. Total expenditure on such evaluation approx. EUR 10 million.
Principles of Evaluation Independence The independence of the IEO is protected through the institutional setup. The Director issues evaluation reports without clearance from UNDP management. The Director has full authority over the conduct and content of evaluations and presents them directly to the Executive Board. Measures to further improve the independence are being considered in conjunction with the current process of Evaluation Policy revision following initial proposal to Board in 2015. Key issues include process and mechanisms for the Board’s role in the appointment of the IEO Director; security of tenure and procedures for review and attestation of IEO work quality; together with budgetary independence.
Competence and capacity building Roughly half of the unit’s current staff have undertaken formal external training, such as International Program for Development Evaluation Training (IPDET). All staff have undertaken an internal online training programme. Rather than specific technical competences, the IEO mentions analytical outlook and the ability to remain unbiased to be among the core skills needed among its staff, which requires continuous competence building.
Transparency and participation The unit makes evaluations and recommendations publicly available as complete reports, which includes management responses for all its evaluations. Evaluation results are shared with partner countries and the IEO reaches out to country stakeholders by conducting a series of workshops following country evaluations in combination with disseminating the results though social media. In addition to this, internal and external circulation is implemented.
Knowledge management The IEO is maintaining the Evaluation Resource Centre, a dedicated knowledge management database that allows for easy sharing of documents, evaluation plans, reports and other resources for internal and external use. This database is also viewed as a support and resource centre specifically for decentralised evaluations, and all the IEO manuals and guidance materials are made available for the decentralised evaluation functions for this purpose.
Co-ordination with donors and country recipients Information on evaluations is systematically provided to recipient or partner institutions. Participation is also ensured by country partners in setting of the evaluation plans and work programs, designing evaluations and by participating in reference groups for evaluations. Five joint evaluations have been carried out during the past five years, primarily with the Global Environment Facility.
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Quality assurance The IEO conducts periodic ‘quality assessments’ of decentralised evaluations and the Director of the IEO has appointed an International Evaluation Advisory Panel (IEAP) to provide periodic advice on evaluation strategies, plans, methodologies and deliverables. It consists of eminent evaluation experts and scholars from around the world. The IEO also participates in peer reviews conducted by independent professionals in the field of evaluation. The reviews provide an assessment of independence, credibility and utility of the evaluation function and provide recommendations to the IEO and the Executive Board of UNDP (UNDP 2016).
Note to reader: The section at the beginning of Part II entitled “Introduction and key for the member profiles” provides explanatory notes on the profiles.
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