Evaluating UN results: Are we achieving them?

Date: Friday, 3 May 2013

“UN Results – Are we achieving them? How do we know?” was the title and focus of a high-level panel event organized by the United Nations Evaluation Group (UNEG) as part of its 2013 Evaluation Week from 15-19 April 2013 at UN Headquarters in New York. The panel followed the evaluation practice exchange seminars and preceded the Annual General Meeting of UN heads of evaluation. It was an opportunity for UN evaluators to better explain how to strengthen the effectiveness of the UN and the importance of evaluation for learning, decision-making and accountability.

“Evaluation is not easy, nor is it popular, but it is essential,” said United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who delivered the opening remarks. “The current constrained budgetary climate makes it more important than ever. All of us share a responsibility to strengthen this important function.”

Panel members reflected on whether or not the United Nations is achieving its objectives, how evaluation is contributing to measuring results, whether evaluation findings and recommendations are actually used for programme and policy improvements, and how the collective capacity of UN programmes can be improved through evaluation.

UN Women is continuously active within the UNEG, promoting the integration of gender equality in evaluation. UN Women’s Evaluation Office recently developed an evaluation scorecard for the United Nations System-Wide Action Plan on Gender equality. UN agencies will use the same tool to report on how evaluations have integrated gender equality dimensions into evaluations with the goal of increased harmonisation. UN Women also is taking part in an innovative international evaluation initiative – EvalPartners — aimed at building the evaluation capacity of civil society organizations. During 2012, the Chief of the UN Women Evaluation Office acted as the UNEG Chair.

UNEG is an inter-agency network that brings together the evaluation units of the UN system, including 43 members of UN departments, specialized agencies, funds and programmes, and affiliated organizations.

Integrating Human Rights and Gender Equality in Evaluation – Towards UNEG Guidance: http://uneval.org/papersandpubs/documentdetail.jsp?doc_id=980

EvalPartners: http://mymande.org/evalpartners