Transparency and Performance

Evaluation at UNCDF

Evaluation Policy

Evaluation in UNCDF is subject to UNDP’s Evaluation Policy . This policy sets out the guiding principles, norms and key concepts for evaluation in UNDP, UNCDF and UNV.

UNCDF follows the rules and standards established by UNEG

The policy draws upon the norms and standards of the United Nations Evaluation Group (UNEG), whose objective is to strengthen the objectivity, effectiveness and visibility of the evaluation function across the UN system and to advocate the importance of evaluation for learning, decision making and accountability.

Clearly defined roles and responsibilities

The UN Capital Development Fund is required to "establish evaluation plans, provide funding, commission evaluators, provide management replies, and learn from evaluation results" in accordance with the policy.

Responsibilities for Evaluation

Roles and responsibilities in the development and oversight of evaluation plans and in the implementation, dissemination and use of evaluations.

01

Independence of the Evaluation Unit

Day-to-day responsibility for evaluation in UNCDF lies with its Evaluation Unit, which reports directly to UNCDF's Executive Secretary and works according to multi-annual Evaluation Plans that are aligned with the Strategic Framework .

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02

Core responsibilities of the Evaluation Unit

  1. Managing and conducting evaluations according to relevant UN quality standards.
  2. Supporting the elaboration of well-defined results frameworks to facilitate the evaluation of programmes and activities.
  3. Ensuring the dissemination of evaluation findings and lessons.
  4. Tracking management responses and follow-up to agreed evaluation recommendations.
  5. Contributing to developing evaluation capacity within UNCDF and beyond.

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03

Strong Partnership with UNDP and UNEG

In line with the provisions of the Evaluation Policy, UNCDF greatly benefits from its partnership with UNDP’s Independent Evaluation Office, from which it receives independent quality assessment of its evaluation work as well as additional evaluation coverage in areas where UNDP and UNCDF are working closely together.


UNCDF is an active member of UNEG, and, when appropriate, we work closely with our development and national government partners in commissioning and conducting evaluations of joint interest.

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Our Team

Members of the evaluation team

Christophe Legrand

Evaluation Specialist, Officer-in-Charge
christophe.legrand@uncdf.org

Marianna Gindin

Communications Associate
marianna.gindin@uncdf.org

Evaluation Function

External Assessments of UNCDF’s Evaluation Function

As other evaluation entities in the UN system, UNCDF’s Evaluation Unit is often subject to external assessment against international good practice in evaluation, such as the UN Evaluation Group Norms and Standards, as a benchmark. The last of such assessments took place in 2018 and prior to that 2014 .

The 2014 assessment found evaluation at UNCDF to be "credible, of appropriate quality and offer(ing) impartial analysis" It also praised UNCDF’s innovation in evaluation, which had helped the function become an important component of UNCDF’s efforts to develop "cutting edge" approaches in its work more broadly. The 2018 assessment confirmed that the arrangements envisaged for UNCDF in the revised Evaluation Policy were functioning well and that the quality of UNCDF evaluations had been rated highly by UNDP’s Independent Evaluation Office (with nine out of ten evaluations assessed since 2016 receiving the top two scores of "satisfactory" or "highly satisfactory" against a six-point scale).

UNCDF evaluations and management responses

All completed UNCDF evaluations and management responses are published and can be found in the links below.

Completed UNCDF Evaluations UNDP Evaluation Policy Communications Materials

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