National Evaluation Capacity Development

Key elements for a conceptual framework

Marco Segone*, Systemic Management, UNICEF Evaluation Office,

and former Vice President, IOCEE-mail: msegone@unicef.org

* The opinions expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the policies or views of UNICEF.

Based on books published by UNICEF in partnership with key international institutions

Webinars are available at www.mymande.org

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WHY

UNICEF

ExBoards strongly requested UNICEF (and other UN agencies) to address it …

UNICEF ExBoard:

• emphasizes that programme countries should have greater ownership and leadership in the evaluation of all forms of assistance

• underlines the importance of increasing the participation of national counterparts and strengthening national capacity in evaluation

• encourages UNICEF to use national evaluation systems, where available, to continue to incorporate capacity-building mechanisms into programme design and implementation and ensure that evaluations are responsive to national demand

UNICEF

… in line with the UN General Assembly …

• national Governments have the primary responsibility for coordinating external assistance and evaluating its contribution to national priorities

• mandated the United Nations system to promote national ownership and capacity development, and to make system-wide progress in harmonizing evaluation practices

Mutual

accounta

bility

Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness

Managing for

results

Harmoni

zation

Alignment Ownership

National ownership and capacity development: National ownership and capacity development: the key ingredients to developmentthe key ingredients to development

… and the broad external environment.

Partner countries exercise effective leadership over their development policies and strategies

Partner countries exercise leadership in developing and implementing their national development strategies

Donors respect partner country leadership and help strengthen their capacity to exercise it.

Implications to the M&E Function

Strengthen and use country-led M&E systemsInstitutionalize M&E systemsM&E capacity development to ensure international standards are met

Paris Declaration Commitment

WHAT

UNICEF

A Systemic approach to Capacity Development. Points of Entry

Individual Level(skills, knowledge, experience)

Demand side• Capacity to strategically plan evaluations, and to identify the key evaluation

questions • Capacity to manage evaluation for independence and credibility• Capacity to use evaluation

Supply side (capacity to conduct an evaluation):• Behavioural independence

• Independence of mind & integrity• Knowledge and respect of evaluation standards • Agreed evaluation processes & products

• Professional competences• Formal education (Masters)• Specialized training (UNEG Training, IPDET)• Professional Conferences and meeting• On the job training (country-led evaluations)• Community of Practices and networking

Individual Level

UNICEF

Individual Level(skills, knowledge, experience)

Institutional Level(policies, procedures, frameworks)

A Systemic approach to Capacity Development. Points of Entry

• Evaluation culture• Set of values and attitudes supporting evaluative (critical) thinking within an

organization• Institutional commitment to learning from evaluation, support evidence-based

policy debate and demand for accountability. • Individual more self-directed learners and use information to act; take higher risks

but also develop a greater sense of personal accountability and responsibility; consult, coach, and support each other more.

• Protective culture (Remove repercussions on careers)• Understanding of the foundations and principles of Monitoring and Evaluation

• Institutionalizing independence, credibility and utility• Evaluation policies

• Work programme and budget• Independence & adequacy of budget

• Conduct of evaluations• Institutional endorsement of standards• In-built Quality Assurance systems

Institutional Level

UNICEF

Individual Level(skills, knowledge, experience)

Institutional Level(policies, procedures, frameworks) Enabling

Environment(policies, legislation, power relations, social norms)

A Systemic approach to Capacity Development. Points of Entry

• Public administration committed to manage for results and accountability

• Transparency• Results-based public budgeting• Evidence-based policy making

• Strong civil society • rights holders able to demand for and monitor quality of public services

• Strong national evaluation association• foster indigenous demand for M&E, and strengthen indigenous supply

Enabling Environment

UNICEF

Lessons learned and Good practices in Capacity Development (1/2)

Capacity development is underpinned by the fundamental characteristic of national ownership

• Taking a capacity development response to scale requires linking to national and local plans, processes, budgets and systems

• A comprehensive capacity development response must link to and draw from relevant national reforms to be sustained, e.g. civil service, wage, public administration reforms, etc

UNICEF

Lessons learned and Good practices in Capacity Development (2/2)

Capacity development is not about a technical fix. It is about transformations and must address how best to manage change

• Tendency to often look only inside of an organization and downplay larger institutional context in which the organization resides

• A capacity development response can and often must show both short- and long-term gains, to ensure continued political commitment and resource support

• Capacity traps’ more often pertinent to the “soft side” such as power relations, vested interests, access, ethic and attitudes

HOW

Enabling Environment

•Organizing meetings and/or conference bringing together the demand side (policy makers, CSO, media) and the supply side (public administration, private sector, academia) to discuss strategies to enhance the use of evidence generated through national evaluation system to influence public policies for children• Support right-holders feedback mechanisms and systems, by developing evaluation capacities of non-Governments stakeholders• Strengthen policy-makers demand for M&E systems, by enhancing the demand for evidence by Parliaments and Governments,

• support Governments in conducting a diagnostic of the (existing or potential) country evaluation system

• Targeting technical support based on bottlenecks identified in the diagnostic

• Identifying and supporting local leaders for country-led evaluation systems for children, especially in the initial stage.

• Seed/support a pool of local talent/national expertise in evaluation, including by supporting National (or Regional) Evaluation Associations and/or National (or regional) Centers of Excellence

• facilitating south-south knowledge sharing among countries with identified “good practices”

Institutional Level

Thank you