The UN Evaluation Group (UNEG) celebrated its flagship event this week: the Evaluation Week and Annual General Meeting which for the first time was held in New York. UNCDF co-hosted the event along with the other NY-based UN agencies.  

UNEG is an inter-agency professional network that brings together the Evaluation Units of the UN system. It currently has 43 members and three observers. Guided by a set of norms and standards for evaluation in the UN system, every year it sets out and completes a Work Programme where UN evaluation staff work to develop new evaluation products and guidance in key areas.

The Evaluation Week included a High-Level Panel event, Evaluation Practice Exchange (EPE), and the Annual General Meeting (AGM) of UN Heads of Evaluation. It was the opportunity for evaluators across the UN system to share their work and expertise and advocate on behalf of the importance of evaluation for learning, decision-making and accountability.

1. The High-Level Event entitled “UN Results – are we achieving them? How do we know?” was opened by the UN Secretary General, Mr Ban Ki-moon, who emphasized the growing  expectations for evaluation functions to contribute to measuring results and providing findings and recommendations to improve UN programmes and policies. The High-Level Event included interventions by the Executive Director of UNAIDS; the Permanent Secretary of the Prime Minister’s Office in Uganda; the Under-Secretary General for Internal Oversight and the Director of Corporate and Country Evaluations at the World Bank.

2. The Evaluation Practice Exchange (EPE) is a forum for UNEG members to share their experience and knowledge on a range of evaluation topics. UNCDF’s Evaluation Unit chaired a session on “decentralizing evaluation” involving UNDP, UNICEF, UN Women and WHO, as well as a session on “ensuring ethical principles in evaluation” with UN Women. Both sessions were well appreciated by participants and promoted an open dialogue between evaluation practitioners that will help UNCDF strengthen its evaluation function and better support practice areas in Results-Based Management.

 3. The Annual General Meeting (AGM) is the forum to review progress and results of UNEG and decide on strategies and work areas for the group for the coming years. Much of the discussions revolved around the future strategic direction of the United Evaluation Group on the basis of an external evaluation commissioned earlier this year and in response to the growing demands for the group to participate in initiatives to strengthen the use of evaluation as part of UN reform and support to national planning and evaluation systems in Member States.

Ban Ki-moon, Evaluation Week 2013 (United Nations Evaluation Group, UNEG)
Statement by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon at the Evaluation Week 2013 meeting organised by the United Nations Evaluation Group (UNEG).