Evaluating development

interventions in the UN, why

Geography matters University of Connecticut SeminarGeography Colloquium Series

2/8/2019 Indran Naidoo, IEO Director, UNDP

OUTLINE

Using geography for evaluation

• Issues of development are rooted in matters of history and geo-politics; deconstructing is enabled by sound

geographic training and perspectives

• Evaluation and research are related, evaluation makes a performance judgment and seeks decisions based on

evidence judged against the Big-5 criteria (relevance, efficiency, effectiveness, sustainability and impact)

The UNDP and portfolio of evaluations of the IEO

• All IEO evaluations of the global program (170 countries) are examined from a development lens

• The portfolio represents key development issues that have been addressed through interventions

Evaluation of UNDP’s Country Programmes

• The units of analysis is interventions at the country program level

• Meta-analysis and upwards aggregations produces trend data on thematic lines relates to the SDGs

The interventions by the UN seek to help countries deliver on Agenda 2030

• Evaluations of interventions over time by agencies will point towards this progress and show discrepancies

National Evaluation Capacities (NEC) of the IEO is the feedback on progress, through evaluation

Space for inter-disciplinary studies (evident in the

topical interest groups and specializations within the

field) – noted in the Association of American

Geographers and professional journals

Geography as an integrating space science allows

for identification, description, analysis and synthesis

of data to demonstrate cause and effect.

Topical issues can be addressed by geographers;

climate change, inequality and migration – roots in

geospatial analysis.

Evaluating development progress must be done with

an understanding of scale

USING GEOGRAPHY FOR EVALUATION

Measuring results at a global scale pre-supposes a common methodology that transacts from

the global, regional, sub-regional to local scale. This is often not so

Judgment on inequality, depends on the scale one uses for analysis

Measures of poverty eradication, which may show global or country level progress, often mask

intra-regional inequality.

Classic division between the North-South, developed-underdeveloped, or urban-rural no longer

exists due to globalization and with regards to climate change effects from one place causing

results in another.

Scale and judgment

Heads of Evaluation Offices,

also geographers, coming

together to move the

discussion on evaluative

evidence of scaling up the

SDGs.

Evaluator-geographer address scale and the SDGs

Participation at the AAG annual meeting in Washington DC 3-7 April 2019

Research and evaluation are related, geographers bring in multidisciplinary and spatial perspectives

New sources of data (Big data, high-resolution

remote sensing, geographic information systems,

and others) and advanced visualization techniques

help to close information gaps and open up new

possibilities for generating and analyzing data,

which evaluators use for making judgment – in the

UNDP on development performance

Portfolio of work that draws on the discipline

EVALUATING AS A GEOGRAPHER, THE IEO’S EXPERIENCE

Evaluation of the UNDP contribution to mine actionAssessing development interventions

through normative and geographic

lenses: Maps and space matter.

Multidisciplinary perspectives are critical

and geography methodologies help.

Evaluation portfolio of IEO related to development issues

20082010 20152009

IEO has used geospatial analysis for a number of evaluations related to the environment

Use of geographic information systems at the IEO

Geographic Information Systems

integrate many types de data

GIS provides deeper insights into

data (patterns, relationships,

situations) helping assess

development interventions and make

more adequate decisions

EVALUATION OF UNDP’S COUNTRY PROGRAMMES

114 ICPEs conducted

1185 Recommendations made

2156 Key actions planned

1728 Key actions completed

Completed ICPEs since 2002

ICPE Evaluation Synthesis

ICPE Evaluation Briefs

•114 ICPEsUp to 2017

•14 ICPEs

•88 % coverage2018

•40 ICPEs

•100% coverage2019

Quantitative and qualitative data to assess performance

Evaluation has a key role to play in the implementation of the SDGs and in UNDP support to them

72. We commit to engaging in

systematic follow-up and review of the

implementation of this Agenda over

the next 15 years.

A/RES/70/1

Transforming our world: the 2030

Agenda for Sustainable Development

EVALUATING PROGRESS MADE IN THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE 2030 AGENDA

Conditions for the follow-up and review processes

74. Follow-up and review processes at all levels will be guided by

the following principles:

▪ […]

▪ They will be rigorous and based on evidence, informed by country-led evaluations and

data which is high-quality, accessible, timely, reliable and disaggregated by income, sex,

age, race, ethnicity, migration status, disability and geographic location and other

characteristics relevant in national contexts.

▪ They will require enhanced capacity-building support for developing countries,

including the strengthening of national data systems and evaluation programmes,

particularly in African countries, least developed countries, small island developing

States, landlocked developing countries and middle-income countries.

Implications of the follow-up and review process

Gathering data and

developing the statistical

information to measure

progress towards the goals

Assessing whether

governmental policies,

programmes and projects

are responding to the

national development needs

and working effectively

Evidence-based

decisions

Improved policies,

programmes and

projects

Better lives

Poor evaluation capacity, a constraint for improvement and

decision-making

Data

gathering

and

statistics

Evaluation

▪ Countries have put more emphasis on data

gathering than evaluation.

▪ Many countries lack the appropriate institutional

capacity, knowledge and resources to operate

evaluation systems

▪ Some countries, for example South Africa and

Uganda, have specific provisions of evaluation in

their national constitution while others do not.

▪ Such a provision makes it easy to build evaluation

systems, this by itself is not a sufficient

requirement for building national evaluation

capacities.

The NEC Conference Series

2019

A key component of IEO’s support to evaluation

capacities development

A space to exchange experiences and learn from peers

and experts from around the world

ARAB STATES

NATIONAL EVALUATION CAPACITIES

USEFUL LINKS

Evaluation Resource Center

NEC Conferences

Independent Country Programme Evaluations

Thematic Evaluations

THANK YOU!

1 UN Plaza, 20th floor

New York, NY 10017

www.undp.org/evaluation