2. OBJECTIVES

An evaluation is an assessment, as systematic and objective as possible, of on-going or completed development activities, their design, implementation and results. The aim is to determine the relevance and fulfilment of objectives, developmental efficiency, effectiveness, impact and sustainability¹.

Evaluations are carried out to generate knowledge and accountability information about development interventions:

• Evaluations shall contribute to the improvement of development cooperation by collation, analysis and dissemination of experience from current and completed development activities. They shall seek the causes and explanations as to why activities succeed or fail to succeed and produce information to help improve relevance and effectiveness of future activities. The target group is Danida's management and staff, government authorities and other concerned parties in partner countries, stakeholders of a particular organisation under evaluation, and Danish and foreign development professionals.
  
  
• Further, evaluations shall provide parliamentarians and the general public in Denmark and partner countries with professional documentation for the use and results of development cooperation. They shall also contribute to a better understanding of development cooperation and of its potential and limitations as an instrument for economic and social change.

Evaluations are distinct from reviews, which constitute a management tool to monitor whether an activity or programme is on track and produces the immediate outputs agreed upon.

¹ DAC Principles for Aid Evaluation, OECD-DAC, 1991. (The definition was reconfirmed in DAC’s Glossary of Key Terms in Evaluation and Results Based Management in 2002)