RE: Evaluation under pressure : Strengthening evidence use, accountability and learning amidst funding constraints (Joint EvalforEarth-ALNAP discussion)

My engagements with development and humanitarian organizations, and especially local civil society organizations, suggest that as financial resources decline, there is a growing risk that M&E will be deprioritized, particularly where its value for organizational learning and strategic decision-making has not been sufficiently institutionalized. Several evaluations are donor requirements, but when not donor-driven, efforts in evidence generation for decision-making are often centered on project achievements and success stories rather than systematically generated evidence. While this does not necessarily imply that evaluations are not conducted, it raises concerns about how evidence is documented, retained, and used. In resource-constrained environments, excluding such evidence risks repeating ineffective approaches, misallocating scarce resources, weakening accountability to communities, and missing opportunities for program adaptation and improvement.