Evaluating Country Programmes - OECD Online Bookshop

Japan
OECD 1999
Country Programme Evaluation: A State of the Art Review
Box 2.1. Drawn from CPE Reports or from CPE Guidelines,
Terms of References or Discussion Papers
In a “Country Evaluation Guideline”, the Economic Co-operation Bureau
describes the objectives of a country evaluation as follows:
1. To verify its performance, relevance, efficiency, direct and indirect impact on
the economic development and the improvement of people’s living conditions…
2. To draw useful recommendations for ODA policy-makers on formulating aid
policies, strategies, and programs/plans for the subject country.
3. To draw useful lessons for improving the identification, formulation, planning,
and implementation of development assistance programs and projects in the
subject country.
4. To contribute to the effective appropriation of Japan’s and the subject country’s
funds, personnel and other aid-related resources.
5. To heighten Japanese people’s awareness of Japan’s ODA affairs…
6. To promote understanding of the people of the subject country on Japan’s
ODA, thereby to facilitate even more effective and efficient implementation of
ODA (MFA Japan, 1998: 9).
UNDP
A draft paper describes the essence of a CPE as “to capture the overall impact
of the programme”, looking particularly at impact, cost-effectiveness, and lessons
for future Country Co-operation Frameworks (Hopkins, 1997: 2ff).
The Netherlands
The rationale for CPEs changed somewhat between the first round (published
in 1994) and the second round (all 1998). In the first round, the CPEs were structured
around five main questions:
1. What are the main features of the development programme, and are Netherlands
and country policy priorities reflected in it?
2. How is the programme organised and managed?
3. What is the macro-economic relevance of the programme?
4. To what extent does the programme contribute to poverty reduction?
5. To what extent are project results sustainable? (adapted from Netherlands,
1994: 48).
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