The impact evaluation community can play a critical role in advancing the UN’s reform agenda, particularly the goals of coherence, cost-effectiveness, and system-wide alignment. In my work across multi-partner consortia and county-level government structures, I have seen how fragmentation in evaluation approaches often leads to duplication, inconsistent standards, and heavy reporting burdens for local actors. Supporting UN reform begins with harmonizing evaluation frameworks across agencies so that they draw from shared theories of change, common indicators, and compatible data systems. This reduces transaction costs for implementing partners and allows evidence to be aggregated more systematically across the humanitarian–development–peace (HDP) nexus.
The evaluation community can also contribute by promoting joint or multi-agency evaluations, particularly for cross-cutting thematic areas like PCVE, gender equality, and resilience. Joint evaluations not only save resources but also produce findings that are more holistic and better suited to inter-agency coordination. Additionally, evaluation teams can support reform by emphasizing adaptive, utilization-focused methodologies that produce real-time insights and decision-relevant evidence, rather than lengthy reports that come too late to influence programming.
Cost-effectiveness can be further enhanced by investing in local evaluators, research institutions, and government systems rather than relying exclusively on external consultants. This not only builds long-term capacity but also reduces the financial and operational footprint of evaluations. The evaluation community can strengthen UN reform by championing a culture of shared accountability, collaborative learning, and strategic alignment—ensuring that evidence not only measures results but also enables the UN system to function more cohesively and effectively.
RE: Global Impact Evaluation Forum 2025: Forging evidence partnerships for effective action
Kenya
Dennis Ngumi Wangombe
MEL Specialist
CHRIPS
Posté le 08/12/2025
The impact evaluation community can play a critical role in advancing the UN’s reform agenda, particularly the goals of coherence, cost-effectiveness, and system-wide alignment. In my work across multi-partner consortia and county-level government structures, I have seen how fragmentation in evaluation approaches often leads to duplication, inconsistent standards, and heavy reporting burdens for local actors. Supporting UN reform begins with harmonizing evaluation frameworks across agencies so that they draw from shared theories of change, common indicators, and compatible data systems. This reduces transaction costs for implementing partners and allows evidence to be aggregated more systematically across the humanitarian–development–peace (HDP) nexus.
The evaluation community can also contribute by promoting joint or multi-agency evaluations, particularly for cross-cutting thematic areas like PCVE, gender equality, and resilience. Joint evaluations not only save resources but also produce findings that are more holistic and better suited to inter-agency coordination. Additionally, evaluation teams can support reform by emphasizing adaptive, utilization-focused methodologies that produce real-time insights and decision-relevant evidence, rather than lengthy reports that come too late to influence programming.
Cost-effectiveness can be further enhanced by investing in local evaluators, research institutions, and government systems rather than relying exclusively on external consultants. This not only builds long-term capacity but also reduces the financial and operational footprint of evaluations. The evaluation community can strengthen UN reform by championing a culture of shared accountability, collaborative learning, and strategic alignment—ensuring that evidence not only measures results but also enables the UN system to function more cohesively and effectively.