Evaluating Country Programmes - OECD Online Bookshop

OECD 1999
Country Assistance Evaluation in the Multilateral Development Banks
generally focuses on a particular set of issues that affect the aid programme. It provides
a snapshot of where the programme currently stands without trying to assess
issues of relevance, effectiveness or impact. It is often undertaken by bilateral
agencies in an attempt to analyse the current status of its country programme. It
would typically focus on issues such as:
– What are the political, economic and social circumstances that have affected
or may affect the aid programme?
– How has implementation of the aid programme been affected by these circumstances?
– What is the sectoral performance of the aid programme?
– Is the aid programme serving the purpose of economic and social development
in the country?
– Are the country’s policies conducive to aid implementation?
A Country Strategy Evaluation (CSE) can constitute an assessment of the relevance
and effectiveness of an institution’s strategy or plans for a country. It looks
primarily at the goal(s), objectives and design of the strategy. Such an assessment
does not evaluate activities or attempt to analyse the impact of the activities on the
country. The IDB evaluation of the Dominican Republic took this approach. It takes
into consideration issues such as:
– Was the country needs analysis correct?
– Were the goal(s), objectives and design of the strategy appropriate?
– Did the strategy’s activities correspond to its goal(s) and objectives?
– Were targets, benchmarks and indicators established to assess the strategy?
A Country Programme Evaluation (CPE) can constitute an assessment of the relevance,
effectiveness and efficiencies of operations undertaken by an institution in a
country. It focuses more closely on operations in a country and assesses overall effectiveness
results of activities in aggregate. Issues to take into consideration include:
– Did the preparation and planning of activities address the strategy and
country needs?
– Was the implementation of operations satisfactorily undertaken?
– What were the overall results of the projects and other activities?
– Were lessons learned from the activities fed into new country strategy efforts?
A Country Assistance Evaluation (CAE) can embody a much broader approach
in examining the relevance, efficacy, efficiency, selective impact and sustainability
of the strategy and all activities of an institution in a country and assess cause, effect
and impact on a broader sectoral or macro-economic basis. Although it may cover
many of the same issues as a CPE, the country assistance evaluation attempts to
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