Assessing the Relevance of Development Assistance. Current Practice and Suggestions for a Better Way Forward

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Author(s)
Sagmeister, E.
Publication language
English
Date published
25 Feb 2016
Type
Blogs
Keywords
Development & humanitarian aid, Evaluation-related
Organisations
Global Public Policy Institute (GPPI)

For the past two decades, evaluation of development assistance has relied on criteria of the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) to assess the merit of development interventions in a structured and comparable way. In thousands of evaluations each year, evaluators thus assess the relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, impact and sustainability of projects and programs. Despite the near universal application of the DAC criteria, research on their use and usefulness remains scant. Existing guidance and evaluation research particularly ignores the question of how to assess the relevance of development interventions. This study seeks to fill this gap. 

More precisely, this research asked whether and how evaluation can assess the relevance of development interventions in a credible and rigorous way so as to allow policymakers and practitioners to deliver the best assistance possible. It draws from the literature of institutional economics, a systematic review of evaluation literature, key informant interviews and a structured assessment of a random sample of 105 evaluation reports from German, European and multilateral development organizations.