I. Overview
The mandated responsibility of the Evaluation Office is to support the Administrator in his substantive accountability function and contributing to organizational learning through provision of systematic and independent assessment of results, effectiveness and impact of the substantive activities of the programme, including the special purpose funds under the Administrator's responsibility.
Based on the Administrator's business plan and the key commitments outlined by him at the Global Resident Representatives Meeting, the Evaluation Office undertook a number of changes to better match its work to the needs of the organization.
Accordingly EO has set the following overarching goals for itself in support of the transformation process underway and the business plan goals:
- Refocus EO's policy, strategy and priorities to help in the repositioning of UNDP and enhance its relevance as a knowledge-driven global advisor and catalyst in the context of rapidly changing global development conditions.
- Support improving UNDP's development effectiveness through introduction of methodological innovations and application of Results-Based Management.
- Support implementation of the organization's change initiatives through mainstreaming the culture of measurement, monitoring and evaluation.
II. EO Priorities
With the above overarching objectives, the following specific activities will be conducted by the EO.
- To undertake strategic evaluations of UNDP management and programme policies, conduct assessment of specific organizational policy and evaluate the impact of UNDP funded programmes.
- To promote the use of evaluation findings, lessons and recommendations in policy and programme formulation;
- To ensure that evaluation findings are accessible to staff and stakeholders and are built into UNDP knowledge management system;
- To develop evaluation guidelines and methods to assist programme managers in results management;
- To develop methodological tools and systems to support results orientation in the organization;
- To maintain dialogue with programme countries and support country offices efforts to strengthen the capacities of programme countries in monitoring and evaluation as an integral part of good governance.
- To oversee the evaluation function in UNDP, including compliance with requirements and tracking of recommendations.
- To prepare the Administrator's report to the Board on organizational effectiveness;
- To maintain and develop partnerships with the UN system organizations (as chair of IAWG), multilateral banks, OECD-DAC on evaluation related work to ensure infusion of globally acceptable quality standard of monitoring and evaluation.
III. EO Operational Activity Goals
Through its work, EO will support three of the five transformational goals highlighted in the Administrator's Business Plan.
1. UNDP Goal on Policy
To strengthen UNDP's position as a trusted and leading partner of programme countries in overcoming their development challenges through swift, high quality support in proven areas.
EO will provide substantive inputs and empirical lessons to inform policy development. This support will also contribute to and help enrich the quality of UNDP support and assess effectiveness of applied policies in critical areas of interventions. (Partner role)
2. UNDP Goal on Performance
To Promote a culture of accountability for results in which performance is systematically measured and improved, and resources strategically managed
In line with its current role and technical competency, EO will design and refine methodologies, develop systems for introducing performance culture, results orientation and substantive accountability in business processes of the organization. EO will also be responsible for disseminating best practices derived from evaluation. Through the Evaluation Network (EVALNET), the EO is ensuring that available expertise in country offices is adequately utilized by other offices for monitoring and evaluation related activities. (Lead Role)
3. UNDP Goal on Partnerships
To transform UNDP into a highly networked organization which creates new development opportunities through strategic partnerships.
Strategic partnerships and networks for evaluation will enhance the substance of evaluative work by enabling comparisons of methods and approaches and encouraging exposure to one another's experience. The partnerships will include joint work with bilateral and multilateral organizations including OECD-DAC, the IAWG and the World Bank to shape and harmonize global M&E standards. Evalnet will be fully utilized as an empirical knowledge-sharing platform. The proposed International Development Evaluation Association (IDEA) being sponsored jointly by UNDP and the World Bank will create a global network of evaluation in the development arena. This will also include networking arrangement with academic and research institutions from all regions with recognized evaluation competence, (Partner role).
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