Week 4: Looking ahead: What needs to change to sustain credible, independent, and useful evaluation in increasingly resource-constrained environments?
Sustaining credible, independent and useful evaluation requires a shift from donor-driven compliance to organization-owned learning and genuine accountability. Accountability should go beyond satisfying donor requirements to ensuring that organisations remain answerable to the communities they serve, represent and advocate for. Learning must be recognized as essential to organizational growth, adaptation, and sustainability.
While donor funding for independent evaluations remains important, local civil society organizations need support to initiate, plan for, and own evaluation processes while safeguarding evaluator independence. Evaluation should be understood not merely as a reporting obligation but as a strategic tool for improving programs, strengthening credibility, demonstrating results, and informing future decisions.
Importantly, evaluation should also be recognized as an investment in resource mobilization and will play a big part if it is linked to funding streams. Credible evidence of results, organizational learning, and accountability can strengthen donor confidence and support fundraising efforts, although it does not guarantee funding. Building this understanding among CSOs is critical to creating genuine institutional demand for evaluation and sustaining evaluation practice in increasingly resource-constrained environments.
RE: Evaluation under pressure : Strengthening evidence use, accountability and learning amidst funding constraints (Joint EvalforEarth-ALNAP discussion)
Cameroon
Juliana Adjem Anchang
Lead Consultant
Posté le 05/11/2026
Week 4: Looking ahead: What needs to change to sustain credible, independent, and useful evaluation in increasingly resource-constrained environments?
Sustaining credible, independent and useful evaluation requires a shift from donor-driven compliance to organization-owned learning and genuine accountability. Accountability should go beyond satisfying donor requirements to ensuring that organisations remain answerable to the communities they serve, represent and advocate for. Learning must be recognized as essential to organizational growth, adaptation, and sustainability.
While donor funding for independent evaluations remains important, local civil society organizations need support to initiate, plan for, and own evaluation processes while safeguarding evaluator independence. Evaluation should be understood not merely as a reporting obligation but as a strategic tool for improving programs, strengthening credibility, demonstrating results, and informing future decisions.
Importantly, evaluation should also be recognized as an investment in resource mobilization and will play a big part if it is linked to funding streams. Credible evidence of results, organizational learning, and accountability can strengthen donor confidence and support fundraising efforts, although it does not guarantee funding. Building this understanding among CSOs is critical to creating genuine institutional demand for evaluation and sustaining evaluation practice in increasingly resource-constrained environments.