Chapter 6. Partnerships

6.1 The Global Evaluation Initiative

The GEI is an inclusive global partnership committed to developing country-owned, sustainable M&E frameworks and capacities to promote the use of evidence in public decision-making, enhance accountability and achieve better results. Initiated by the IEO and the Independent Evaluation Group of the World Bank, the partnership brings together a diverse coalition of governments, evaluation entities of multilateral and bilateral development organizations, other international and local development institutions, and M&E experts. They pool financial and technical resources to coordinate and expand M&E efforts globally.20 Since its launch in November 2020, the GEI has developed into a strong and effective partnership, bolstered by members’ dynamism and commitment to collaboration. Twenty members now actively participate in its Implementation Committee. In September 2021, the GEI global team opened its offices in Brussels. A UNDP IEO adviser based there is leading GEI’s first business line on developing a culture of evidence-informed decision-making.

20 GEI technical, financial and implementing partners include intergovernmental and international organizations (the GEF, the

International Fund for Agricultural Development, UNFPA and the World Food Programme); international financial institutions (the

African Development Bank, Asian Development Bank, Inter-American Development Bank and the Islamic Development Bank); bilateral partners (Canada, Denmark, Finland, Germany, The Netherlands, Sweden and Switzerland); evaluation practitioners’ networks (EvalYouth) and evaluation capacity development providers (the Centers for Learning on Evaluation and Results, the

International Program for Development Evaluation Training; the École nationale d’administration publique, Camões – Instituto da

Cooperação e da Língua, the German Institute for Development Evaluation and the International Initiative for Impact Evaluation).

In 2021, the GEI organized numerous regional and country events, including a GEI-United Nations Africa brainstorming and the gLOCAL Evaluation Week, with some 350 events and 20,000 registered participants. Such activities fostered conversations around the role of evaluation in achieving the SDGs and opportunities for joint efforts to offset national challenges to M&E. The GEI global team also developed an M&E systems analysis tool designed to assess national capacities and inform long-term capacity development programmes.

In partnership with the GEI, the IEO is organizing the 2022 National Evaluation Capacity conference, which in October will focus on resilient national evaluation systems for sustainable development. The conference will offer a valuable opportunity for capacity development and knowledge exchange among UNDP programme countries, in support of South-South and triangular cooperation.

6.2 Joint efforts on COVID-19

The IEO continued to play an important role in joint efforts to evaluate the international response to the COVID-19 pandemic. It provided inputs to the “Early Lessons and Evaluability of the United Nations COVID-19 Response and Recovery MPTF” in March 2021 and the planning of the forthcoming System-Wide Evaluation of the United Nations Development System Response to COVID-19, led by the Executive Office of the United Nations Secretary-General.

Together with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), on behalf of the United Nations Evaluation Group, the IEO participated in the core management and reference group of the OECD-DAC COVID-19 global evaluation coalition. The IEO contributed to an early synthesis of lessons and emerging evidence on the initial pandemic response and recovery measures. It gave strategic guidance on an evaluative framework to guide the coalition and evaluation agencies in conducting pandemic evaluations and preparing evaluation syntheses. A joint strategic evaluation of the overall COVID-19 response and recovery effort, with a focus on coherence and impact, is planned for 2022.

6.3 United Nations Evaluation Group

The IEO’s regular contributions to the programme of work of the United Nations Evaluation Group included support to finalize the Guidelines for the Evaluation of the United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework.21 In 2021, the IEO also engaged in two collaborative exercises with other evaluation offices at other United Nations entities.

21 See: http://www.unevaluation.org/document/detail/2972.

In partnership with UNICEF and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the IEO launched an evaluation of the Common Country Programme in Cape Verde (2018-2022). It has been managed by the joint office established as part of a Delivering as One pilot in 2006. The evaluation focused on lessons from the model as an enabler of effective and timely delivery. It tested hypotheses around the effectiveness and coherence of guidance and programming, decreased resource competition and cost-effectiveness, including through a comparison with countries characterized by a smaller United Nations footprint.

Together with seven United Nations entities and under UNICEF leadership, the IEO also contributed to the Evaluation

Synthesis of United Nations System and

Development Bank Work Towards SDG 6, on ensuring the availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all. The synthesis identified staff capacity and community involvement as primary drivers of results. In contrast, a lack of political will, a challenging bureaucracy and projects that are too large and complex represent the highest barriers. Key lessons and recommendations revolved around the need for clear communication and the definition of stakeholders’ roles, stronger M&E and better knowledge management.

Through constant collaboration with the evaluation offices of other United Nations entities and development partners, at the end of 2021, the IEO started planning systematic reviews of evaluative evidence of SDG achievements, organized around the five pillars of people, planet, prosperity, peace and partnership. The reviews will build on a rich body of evidence comprising more than 3,000 evaluations from United Nations entities, 10,000 impact evaluations and almost 1,000 systematic assessments across the SDGs. They are slated for completion by the end of 2024.

At the 2022 Annual General Meeting, the IEO Director was elected Chair of the United Nations Evaluation Group for 2022-2024.