On July 11th, UNCDF attended the High-Level side event Empowering Countries through Evaluation: Evaluation as a country level tool for the new development agenda as part of the Fourth Development Cooperation Forum.

The side event was organized by the United Nations Evaluation Group (UNEG), a professional network that brings together the units responsible for evaluation in the UN system. UNEG aims to promote the independence, credibility and usefulness of evaluation across the UN system, to advocate for the importance of evaluation for learning, decision making and accountability and to support that evaluation community in the UN system and beyond.

The High Level Panel explored the role that evaluation can play in empowering countries and considered how building evaluation capacities at the country level can lead to greater ownership of the development agenda, and how stronger national evaluation systems can be part of an inclusive and robust global accountability framework. Led by Ms. Deborah Rugg, Chair of UNEG, the panel included Honourable Kabir Hashim, Member of the Sri Lankan Parliament; Arsenio Balisacan, Director General of the National Economic and Development Authority (Philippines); Ms. Amina Mohammed, Special Advisor of the Secretary-General on Post-2015 Development Planning and Mr. John Hendra, Assistant Secretary-General Deputy Executive Director for Policy and Programme.

‘Political will is critical to the success of evaluation’, M. Kabir Hashim said, addressing the importance to establish national evaluation policies to ensure effective monitoring of development cooperation. Panelists also highlighted that evaluation provides a key tool to contribute to the development of concrete results to the post 2015 development agenda and that national evaluation capacity building needs to be addressed as part of the agenda. "Evaluation is not easy nor is it popular, but it is essential. All of us share a responsibility to strengthen this important function", Ms Amina Mohammed concluded, quoting the Secretary General.

The live webcast of the high-level side event can now be watched online on UN WebTV