Meta-study of Partner-led Evaluations 2019

Based on a recommendation from its internal audit, Sida/UTV commissioned NIRAS to undertake a stocktaking and metaassessmentof partner-led evaluations that were undertaken in 2019 and early 2020. The assignment consisted of i) a stocktakingof partner-led evaluations and reviews; ii) a quality assessment of a sample; and iii) an assessment of utility of the same sample.While there is scope for improvement, the quality of the evaluation reports is good. The average utility score for the evaluations isalso relatively high. Management responses have been prepared by the respective partners for the entire sample. The terms ofreference for the evaluations were, however, a weak aspect.The data suggests that quality of a partner-led evaluation depends to some extent on whether it is commissioned as an end-termor mid-term evaluation, and the size of its budget – the latter of which is often dependent on the first. Correlations between utilityand quality; and the quality of the ToRs and quality or utility of the evaluation reports are weak. A larger sample size might betterreveal potential correlations.