The following resources illustrate the OECD DAC's evolving consensus on
evaluating development co-operationpolicies and programmes.
This normative framework can help guide and inform evaluation work,
and createsshared understanding to support better collaboration and joint work.


See this short
Evaluating Development Co-operation:
Summary of key norms and standards
for an overview.

Evaluation Insights

Informal working papers that highlight emerging findings and relevant policy messages from evaluation.

November 2012

Evaluating Peacebuilding Activities in Settings of Conflict and Fragility:
Improving Learning for Results

The DAC Network on Development Evaluation and the DAC Network on Conflict and Fragility (INCAF) worked together to develop this guidance -- to strenghten learning and improve development results in situations of conflict and fragility, by gathering policy lessons and developing shared approaches to evaluation.

December 2010

Evaluation in Development Agencies

This study describes the role and management of evaluation in development agencies and multilateral banks.

June 2010

Evaluating Development Co-operation: Summary of key norms and standards 

Contains the main elements of the OECD DAC's approach to evaluation, including evaluation criteria, core principles and quality standards.

April 2010

The DAC Quality Standards for Development Evaluation provide a guide to good practice in development evaluation. They are intended to improve the quality of evaluation processes and products and to facilitate collaboration.

In English:  DAC Quality Standards for Development Evaluation

In Arabic/English/French:

معايير الجودة لتقييم التنمية

In French:  Normes de qualité pour l’évaluation du développement 

In German: Qualitätsstandards für die Entwicklungsevaluierung

In Korean:  DAC 개발평가 품질기준
In Portuguese: Normas de Qualidade para a Avaliação do Desenvolvimento

In Spanish: Estándares de calidad para la evaluación del desarrollo

February 2010

How to support capacity development through evaluation
This tip-sheet provides basic advice to evaluators on how best to support evaluation capacity development through their regular evaluation work, outlining elements of a more “capacity-friendly” approach to evaluating development co-operation.

February 2008

Guidance on Evaluating Conflict and Peacebuilding ActivitiesWorking draft for application period  / In French
This working draft develops guidance on conducting effective evaluations of conflict prevention and peacebuilding work.

October 2006

Guidance for Managing Joint Evaluations:
This booklet is a practical guide for managers of joint evaluations of development assistance programmes.

Also available in French and in Spanish 

2002-2009

Glossary of Key Terms in Evaluation and Results Based Management: 
A valuable reference guide in evaluation training and in practical development work
Available in: Trilingual version, English/ French/ Spanish, Arabic, Chinese, Dutch, German, Glossario dei principali termini utilizzati negli ambiti valutazione e gestione basata sui risultati, Japanese, Glossario Da Avaliçao e Da Gestao Centrada os Resultados, Kiswahili, Korean, Russian, Swedish, Turkish

March 2006

Evaluation Systems and Use, an Assessment Tool for Peer Reviews and assessments:
This assessment framework has been developed by the Network to strengthen the evaluation function and to promote transparency and
accountability within development agencies.
Also available in Portuguese

2004

Lessons Learned on Donor Support to Decentralisation and Local Governance
This study presents a synthesis of recent evaluations of programmes and projects supporting decentralisation and local governance in developing countries.

2003

Review of Gender and Evaluation
This review’s purpose was to distil experiences with evaluating gender equality objectives, in order to improve evaluation practice and development outcomes.

1999

1. Guidance for Evaluating Humanitarian Assistance in Complex Emergencies
This Guidance is aimed at those involved in the commissioning, design and management of evaluations of humanitarian assistance programmes principally within donor organisations but is also likely to be of use to UN agencies, NGOs and other organisations involved in the provision of humanitarian assistance.

1999 

2.Evaluating Country Programmes, Vienna Workshop 1999

This publication provides a unique overview of approaches and methods for country programme evaluation.

2000

3. Donor Support for Institutional Capacity Development in Environment: Lessons Learned
This study acknowledges the considerable progress made in terms of the growing mainstreaming of environmental issues and recognises the need for additional efforts in the context of widespread institutional capacity development.

2000 

4. Effective Practices in Conducting a Joint Multi-Donor Evaluation 

This publication provides guidance on how to plan and conduct a joint evaluation of development programmes when more than one donor agency is involved

2001

5. Evaluation Feedback for Effective Learning and Accountability
Evaluation systems face many challenges. In addition to the quality, relevance and timeliness of the evaluation itself, a major challenge lies in conveying the evaluation results to multiple audiences both inside and outside development agencies.

DAC Principles and Criteria

DAC Criteria for Evaluating Development Assistance 
(factsheet)

Principles for Evaluation of Development Assistance (1991)

More (website)

DAC Principles for effective aid  (1992)  

 (1998) The objective of the review was to examine the implementation and use of the Principles, in order to assess their impact, usefulness and relevance and to make recommendations. 

Other documents

2005

Joint Evaluations: Recent experiences, lessons learned and options for the future 

2003

Partners in Development Evaluation: Learning and Accountability (Paris, France)
- Summary
- Workshop Proceedings

2002

More...  (workshop)

2001

2000

Executive Summary (Executive Summary)

2000

Background Report (Background paper)

1997

Evaluation of programs promoting participatory development and good governance

1993

1975