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Mainstreaming the Environment
Under the session Evaluation and Complexity – Methodological Challenges at SVUFs (the Swedish Evaluation Society) conference this year (22 – 23 October 2009), SADEV held a presentation titled Credibility in Multi-actor Evaluations – a discussion about the evaluation of the Paris Declaration. With the joint evaluation of the implementation of the Paris Declaration as a point of departure, the presentation discussed the challenges to achieve a systematic inquiry in multi-actor evaluations where the evaluation work is divided between a number of different evaluation teams. This might create a credibility problem when the results are to be synthesized.
This autumn, parallel with my role as Director-General of SADEV, I will be undertaking the challenge of tackling the question: “What is required of development assistance in a world where corruption is a fact?” It is not an easy task, one which I will be approaching with respect and humility, but also with enthusiasm.
It is recognized that corruption is an obstacle to development and a threat to effective development assistance. Many remedies have been used and tested, but experience shows that more is needed.
In three months’ time, I will upon request from the Minister for Development Cooperation present ten innovative proposals on how the effort to implement effective development assistance can be strengthened.
To ensure that these proposals are as relevant and useful as possible, it is important that as many views and perspectives as possible contribute to them.
I will also be contacting numerous people with a variety of different perspectives, knowledge and experience, with the aim of listening to a diversity of ideas.
An open discussion is necessary for us to ensure we achieve effective development assistance.
Please feel free to contact me at innovationspanelen@gmail.com
For further information: www.innovationspanelen.se
/ Gunilla Törnqvist
As a member of the European Union (EU), Sweden has the opportunity to influence one of the largest actors on the international development arena. The Swedish Government has declared its com¬mit¬ment to seize this opportunity as a means to strengthen the quality and effectiveness of other EU member states’ and the Commis-sion’s development cooperation and their focus on creating condi¬tions that will enable poor people to improve their lives.
SADEV presents the findings of its evaluation of to what extent the Swedish field offices are instructed and organised to meet this com¬mitment.
The evaluation also provides recommendations on what can be done to increase the Swedish field offices’ influence on field represen¬ta¬tives of other EU member states and the Commission.
Read the whole reportRead the Policy BriefThe Millennium Development Goals, the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness and, most recently, the Accra Agenda for Action have radically changed international development cooperation, challenging donors and partner countries to find more effective ways of working together. While joint evaluations (that is, evaluations where different donor agencies and/or partners participate) have the potential to bring benefits to all partners in this respect, the vast majority of evaluations carried out by donor agencies remain sole donor evaluations.
With an increasing number of donors having experience in working jointly on evaluations, it is a valuable exercise to capture these donors’ perceptions of joint evaluation work. This should pave the way for finding opportunities and approaches for overcoming remaining obstacles, permitting an increased reliance on – and hence increased participation in – joint evaluations.
In order to identify challenges, opportunities and approaches for increasing the number of joint evaluations, a questionnaire was sent to all members of the DAC Evaluation Network, and subsequently complemented with telephone interviews. This study is entirely based on the information collected through this exercise.
The study was commissioned by OECD DAC Evaluation Network. The finalized report was presented at the Network meeting in November 2008, where the Network agreed to adopt the report’s recommendations and to work towards an increased participation in joint evaluations.
The Paris Declaration, with its strengthened focus on results, has propelled evaluation to a central role in today’s international development cooperation. In this context, it has been widely acknowledged that evaluations produced by multilateral organisations are of variable quality and that they are rarely used as a tool for effectively achieving results. SADEV’s evaluation (2008:6) contributes to an increased understanding of the underlying reasons for the inconsistencies in quality and why evaluations are not being utilised optimally. The evaluation assesses the quality of UNDP’s evaluations and related activities at the country level. The recommendations provided in the evaluation are intended to strengthen the focus on results in Sweden’s engagement in multilateral development cooperation, and to facilitate Sweden’s ability to rely on evaluations produced by these organisations. Among other recommendations SADEV argues for a simplified results reporting system within UNDP.
Read the policy brief.Read the whole report.Sweden’s Policy for Global Development (PGD) emphasises that the rights perspective should be integrated in all Swedish development cooperation activities. This perspective encompasses four key principles: participation, non-discrimination, openness and transparency, and responsibility and accountability. It also places special emphasis on democracy and the rights of women and children. However, few guidelines exist that describe how to operationalise and implement the perspective. SADEV has evaluated one of the few examples where Sida, through the Swedish Embassy in Nairobi, has been working with a practical approach to promoting the rights perspective – ‘Mainstreaming In Action’ (MAINIAC). The evaluation argues that enhanced knowledge and awareness of the principles of the rights perspective are of uttermost importance. Both general and specific work routines are needed to apply the principles in different programmes and sectors. Among other recommendations SADEV argues for a rights perspective policy.
Read the policy brief. Read the whole report.