PREFACE 

Evaluation has been used systematically since the early days of Danish development assistance. In 1982 Danida established a special unit responsible for evaluation. The use of evaluations has developed success- 3 PREFACE ively in three 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 more systematically 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 tendency 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 assistance.

In the period 1987-97 the number of individual project evaluations was reduced and the number of thematic and sector evaluation increased. As a policy, all evaluation reports were made public.

In 1992, informing the public was included as a distinct objective for evaluation in accordance with DAC principles. In this period evaluations became more experimental and included a small number of impact evaluations as well as use of participatory methods. In general, all evaluations were – and still are – conducted by independent consultants.

In 1997 a formal evaluation policy was promulgated. At the same time the Evaluation Secretariat was established as a separate, independent entity within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Since then the development evaluation scene has changed with joint evaluations becoming much more prominent. The Millennium Development Goals, the Rome Declaration on Harmonisation and Alignment and the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness have wide implications for the ways evaluations are carried out. Consequently the evaluation policy was revised in 2006 (see Annex 2).

The first evaluation guidelines were adopted in 1986. They were substantially revised in 1994 and again in 1999. These guidelines build on the 1999 guidelines and reflect the new policy as well as the DAC Guidance for Conducting Effective Joint Evaluations and the DAC Evaluation Quality Standards, both issued in 2006.

The primary purpose of the Evaluation Guidelines is to communicate to partners and external consultants Danida’s expectations of the quality of evaluations. They constitute a framework built on principles, criteria, standards, good practices and information about Danida’s evaluation process. Particular emphasis has been put on defining the roles of various stakeholders in evaluations and on developing codes of conduct for these stakeholders.

The guidelines are not intended as an evaluation manual. Danida requires that its external consultants have the competencies expected of evaluation professionals: a sound grasp of evaluation methodologies, the skills and abilities to carry out evaluations as well as up to date knowledge of developments in the field of evaluation, in particular development evaluation.

Many people have contributed to these guidelines. First and foremost the staff of the Evaluation Department with support from Ian Davies. Feed-back from consultants, colleagues and partners on how we do business has been invaluable as has been comments on drafts from Ray Rist and Linda Morra of IPDET.

Niels Dabelstein

Head of Evaluation Department