Evaluation

In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, the timetable and implementation of evaluations to be carried out in 2020 had to be adjusted.

Two NGOs were evaluated in the first half of 2020. The external evaluation of interventions by the Luxembourgish NGO Comité pour une paix juste au Proche-Orient (CPJPO) on development education and public awareness-raising in Luxembourg during 2016 to 2019 took place from February to July 2020. The evaluation of the organisational structure of the Palestinian NGO Palestinian Agricultural Development Association (PARC) and of the management of the Advance Rural Development Investment (ARDI) programme implemented by it was carried out from December 2019 to July 2020. The ARDI programme was also the subject of a financial audit carried out partly face-to-face and partly remotely by external auditors from January to June 2020.

Luxembourg also launched a joint mid-term review with LuxDev of the Indicative Cooperation Programme (ICP III, 2017-2021) between Burkina Faso and the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. Technical evaluations of the two interventions implemented by LuxDev and one intervention implemented by the UNFPA were conducted by external consultants. The consultants will also carry out the strategic review of the ICP III as a whole during the first quarter of 2021.

The mid-term reviews of five of the seven Indicative Cooperation Programmes (ICPs) carried out in 2018 and 2019 were examined in 2020 in order to learn the key lessons and recommendations in these evaluations and to improve mid-term review processes, with the ultimate aim of optimising the evaluations of Luxembourg’s Development Cooperation.

The external evaluation of the Appui au développement de l’inclusion financière 2018-2021 (Support for financial inclusion 2018-2021) programme by the Luxembourgish NGO Appui au développement autonome (ADA) was commissioned in December 2020 and will be completed in April 2021.

In addition to managing and monitoring evaluations, Luxembourg focuses on the work of evaluation networks. In 2020, Luxembourg participated in the meetings of the Multilateral Organisation Performance Assessment Network (MOPAN), the Société luxembourgeoise de l’évaluation et de la prospective (SOLEP - Luxembourg company for evaluation and forecasting), and the OECD/DAC network on development evaluation (EVALNET). Some members and partners of this network, including Luxembourg, have created the COVID-19 Global Evaluation Coalition. This coalition has set itself the task of evaluating the response to the COVID-19 pandemic and providing independent and credible elements of evaluation, in order to take responsibility and to learn lessons.