Moderator
- Anne-Claire Luzot, World Food Programme, Director, Evaluation
Panelists
- Cristina Manuel Matusse, National Planning and Budget Division, Mozambique Deputy National Director
- Edward Mulbah, Ministry of Internal Affairs, Liberia, Deputy Minister
- Gamil Helmy, Ministry of Planning, Economic Development and International Cooperation, Egypt Assistant Minister for Monitoring Affairs
- Joselyn Corrales, National Planning Secretariat, Ecuador, Undersecretary of Evaluation
- Qianwen Li, Nanjing University, China, Vice-President
Exploratory Statement
To strengthen national evaluation systems, governments should build and use existing capabilities, networks and resources to conduct evaluations that address and support national development priorities and balance accountability and learning.
Discussion Themes
- Evidence-based decision-making is vital to good governance and there is a need to use and make accessible rigorous evidence to inform policy and programming—including the prioritization of investments. There is a lot to learn from audit systems on rigour, independence and professionalization.
- Evaluation is a critical component of the national systematic reviews on progress towards the SDGs. Evaluations enable governments to understand failures and lessons to better plan and assess policies around what works.
- The principle of ‘Leave No One Behind’ is an important aspect of national evaluation system strengthening; however, it requires dedicated financing to ensure that it will materialize.
- Evaluation promotes accountability and transparency in government actions and helps build public trust.
- Key challenges to strong evaluation systems include financial constraints that hinder the kind of comprehensive evaluation needed to facilitate evidence-based decision-making; difficulty in obtaining reliable data; insufficient technical skills and capabilities to carry out evaluation and interpret data; and variability in political support for evaluation, which can affect the implementation of evaluation findings.
“Evaluation helps us as governments to measure our failures, successes, and lessons to inform the future [...] and ensures government policies and programmes are aligned with transparency, accountability and equity, leaving no one behind.”
Ministry of Internal Affairs, Liberia
“Political commitment is key—not just to conduct evaluations but to accept and act upon the results.”
National Planning and Budget Division, Mozambique
“Audit systems provide valuable lessons in rigour, independence and professionalization, which can strengthen evaluation systems.”
Vice-President, Nanjing University, China
