Stronger evaluation partnerships : the way to keep the practice relevant

This paper argues that recipient countries/organisations do not readily assume ownership of project evaluations, and that they often see them as a burden rather than as a useful tool. The changing context of development cooperation, with a growing share of aid transfers being channelled through multi-donor budget and sector support programmes rather than through single-donor projects, is also raising challenges to the conventional practice of evaluation. The relevance of assessing achieved results compared to the originally stated goals of these programmes is being questioned by some of their managers. This paper suggests that strengthening the partnership around the evaluation would make it more relevant and would increase its impact