Senior Evaluation Officer/Head of Country Strategic Plan Evaluation Unit
WFP
Posted on 03/11/2025
This is a great discussion.
We have found that an important moment in our evaluation process is in the development of recommendations and the exchange with users (e.g. management who will be tasked with implementing recommendations). In that exchange, there are several potential outcomes, which are useful in different ways:
Appreciation of new perspectives: Users valuing independent insightsoffered by an evaluation's recommendations
Validation of existing intentions: Users noting that the recommendations formalize a direction that they have wanted to take but they have not had the evidence to back it
Recognition of constraints: Users noting that the recommendation is pointing in the right direction, but that given resources, institutional arrangements, or external forces, the recommendation is not implementable
#3, while not the easy, full endorsement one often hopes for, it has a strategic value in catalyzing dialogue with institutional structures, funders, and other stakeholders about what is needed to enable change.
Italy
Judith Friedman
Senior Evaluation Officer/Head of Country Strategic Plan Evaluation Unit
WFP
Posted on 03/11/2025
This is a great discussion.
We have found that an important moment in our evaluation process is in the development of recommendations and the exchange with users (e.g. management who will be tasked with implementing recommendations). In that exchange, there are several potential outcomes, which are useful in different ways:
#3, while not the easy, full endorsement one often hopes for, it has a strategic value in catalyzing dialogue with institutional structures, funders, and other stakeholders about what is needed to enable change.