1. INTRODUCTION

Evaluation has been used systematically since the early days of Danish development cooperation as a tool for improving methods and results. In 1982 Danida established a special unit responsible for evaluation. The use of evaluations has developed successively in four main stages:

Prior to 1982 evaluations focussed essentially on individual projects and programmes. Most of these were mid-term or phase evaluations conducted as the project moved from one phase to the next. Only a few end-evaluations were conducted, and only occasionally were ex-post evaluations carried out to study the long-term effect of projects.

In the period 1982-87, after Danida’s Evaluation Unit was established, it was agreed to use evaluations for more systematic studies to improve the quality of Danida financed development activities. Also in this period most evaluations were mid-term or phase evaluations of individual projects. The trend was to replace mid-term evaluations with internal reviews and increase the number of end-evaluations. The use of evaluations was more systematic in the sense that it was guided by an annual evaluation programme to ensure that the sample of evaluated projects and programmes were representative for Danish bilateral cooperation.

During 1987-97 the number of individual project evaluations was reduced and the number of thematic and sector evaluations increased. As a principle, all evaluation reports were made public. In 1992, informing the public was included as an essential goal for evaluation in accordance with DAC principles. In this period evaluations became more experimental and included a number of impact evaluations as well as use of participatory methods. All evaluations were conducted by external, independent consultants.

In 1997 an evaluation policy was formulated and the Evaluation Secretariat was established as a separate, independent entity within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (in 2003 the name was changed to the Evaluation Department). A Review of Evaluation in Danida by external international consultants found in 2003 that Danida’s evaluation system basically is sound in comparison to general international standards. Based on a public hearing held in 2004 the institutional arrangement of the Evaluation Department was confirmed.

While the policy has provided the overall framework for specific Danida evaluation, practice has developed considerably since 1997. In particular the move towards sector wide approaches has required donor evaluation departments and partners to work together to conduct evaluations jointly. Danida has been at the forefront in this move towards joint evaluations. In recent years about half of evaluations have been conducted jointly with partners.

The Rome, Marrakech, and Paris Declarations on ownership, alignment, harmonisation, managing for results, and the Good Humanitarian Donorship Principles have reinforced this trend. Fortunately, the donor evaluation community has had a good basis for harmonising evaluation work: the DAC Principles for Evaluation which has provided a common frame of reference for evaluation across donors and countries.

This up-dated version of the evaluation policy captures these changes and makes collaboration and partnership central principles for Danida’s evaluation.