PART TWO
CHAPTER 22. COUNTRY-LEVEL EVALUATION PLAN

It is important that UNDP country offices prepare country-level monitoring and evaluation plans. This chapter focuses on the preparation of a country-level evaluation plan. The steps in the preparation of such a plan are described. These are followed by an evaluation plan form and a sample of a completed form.

HOW TO PREPARE AN EVALUATION PLAN AT THE COUNTRY LEVEL
What Is A Country-level Evaluation Plan?
An evaluation plan at the country level identifies the evaluation exercises to be conducted in order to assess the relevance, performance and success of the technical cooperation provided to a programme country by UNDP. It is an essential tool for managing the implementation of the CCF. It is also a means of ensuring that appropriate evaluations are undertaken from which lessons can be drawn for future programming (see chapter 17).

When Must the Evaluation Plan Be Prepared?
As the CCF is being formulated, prerequisites for evaluation (as well as monitoring) must be met, e.g., refinement of baseline data and agreement on indicators. After the approval of the CCF, a detailed evaluation plan must be prepared covering the evaluation activities for a rolling three-year period to ensure that there will be sufficient information to feed into the annual and triennial reviews of the CCF.

Towards the end of the first year of the plan, the evaluations scheduled for the second and third years must be reviewed and revised where necessary. Plans for the subsequent year must also be prepared.

Who Is Responsible for Preparing the Plan?
The UNDP country office is responsible for preparing the country- level evaluation plan. However, the country office should consult with appropriate institutions in the programme country and with United Nations executing agencies and other institutions that are expected to be the main stakeholders in the evaluations.

What Are the Main Steps in Preparing the Evaluation Plan?

1. Review the main objectives of the CCF.

2. Establish or refine indicators for evaluating the results of the CCF in light of those objectives. The objectives and indicators serve as the overall guide for determining which evaluations are necessary.

3. Identify and prepare a list of programmes and projects under the CCF that meet the criteria for mandatory evaluation.

4. Prepare a list of programmes and projects that should be considered for non-mandatory evaluation (see chapter seven for an explanation of the criteria for these evaluations).

5. Also list any carry-over evaluations, that is, those that need to be undertaken for programmes and projects approved during the years prior to the current CCF. These evaluations should also be part of the triennial evaluation plan of the UNDP country office.

6. Prepare a list of proposed evaluations based on the three lists mentioned in items 3-5. In doing so, consider the following:
   • Status of programmes and projects
     • How long have they been operational? Have they reached a stage that would provide an adequate basis for evaluation?
   • Priority attached to the programmes and projects in relation to the objectives of the current CCF (and the previous country programme for the carry-over evaluations)
     • What are the major programmes and projects that are considered crucial to the achievement of the objectives?
   • Scheduling
     • Given the activities related and unrelated to evaluation that the country office plans to undertake for the year and the manpower, logistics and financial resources required, how many evaluations can the country office realistically organize and manage?
     • Which specific evaluations need to be undertaken first to serve as inputs to the required annual and/or triennial reviews of the implementation of the CCF?
     • Which evaluations will be conducted during the first year? During the second year? During the third year?

7. Determine the types of evaluations to be conducted, by agent, timing and scope (see chapter nine).

8. Consult with expected evaluation stakeholders to obtain their views on the purposes and types of the evaluations being considered.

9. Prepare the evaluation plan, which can be a five- to eight-page document.

What are the Content and Structure of the Evaluation Plan?
Provide the following information, using the evaluation plan form on pages 97-102.

Pages 1-2 (in textual format)

• Highlights of the CCF

This section is intended to provide background information for UNDP headquarters, particularly OESP, which monitors compliance with evaluation requirements.

• Indicate the period covered by the CCF.
• Describe the main objectives and areas of thematic focus of the CCF.
• Briefly describe the major programmes or projects that have been approved under the CCF. Select only the most important ones.

• Indicators for Monitoring and Evaluation and the Collection of Data
  • List indicators for evaluating the CCF.
  • Describe the time-series data, including baseline data, that need to be collected for use in the CCF evaluation

• Funding Sources
  • Indicate sources of funding for the evaluations (see chapter 18).

Pages 3-8
Indicate the evaluations that are planned for each year, listing the programmes and/or projects to be evaluated by category:

Mandatory

• All programmes and projects with total budgets of $1 million or more, including
  • those with original budgets of $1 million or more
  • those with original budgets below $1 million but later increased to $1 million or more and
  • those with original budgets of $1 million or more but later reduced to less than $1 million.

NB: These programmes and projects may be evaluated individually or as part of a

cluster evaluation.

• Technical cooperation that has been provided to a particular institution for ten years or more

NB: The evaluation must cover all of the programmes and projects that have

channelled their cooperation to that institution. As such, it will necessarily be a cluster evaluation.

Non-mandatory: Programmes and projects that are innovative or strategic. For each programme or project to be evaluated, indicate

• number and title

• budget

• year the programme or project was approved based on the original programme support document or project document

• schedule for the evaluation (i.e., which quarter of the year)

• type of evaluation by agent (internal, external), timing (mid-term, terminal or ex-post) and scope (programme, project, thematic, sectoral).

This plan must be submitted by the UNDP country offices to OESP through the relevant regional bureaux no later than 31 December each year.

As part of its work planning process, the country office should also prepare a list of the evaluations for its internal use, indicating the staff responsible for organizing and managing each evaluation.

FORMS

Evaluation Plan
Sample of a completed Evaluation Plan at the Country Level
Click here to download blank WordPerfect form