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Evaluating Country Programmes
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Relevance
Box 2.3. DAC definitions
of criteria for evaluating development assistance
The extent to which the aid activity is consistent with the priorities and policies of
the target group, recipient and donor. In evaluating relevance of a programme or
project, it is useful to consider the following questions:
1. To what extent are the objectives of the programme still relevant?
2. Are the activities and outputs of the programme consistent with the overall
goal and the attainment of objectives?
3. Are the activities and outputs of the programme consistent with the intended
impacts and effects?
Effectiveness
A measure of the extent to which an aid programme attains its objectives.
Effectiveness measures the extent to which the activity achieves its purpose, or
whether this can be expected to happen on the basis of the outputs. In evaluating
the effectiveness of a programme or project, it is useful to consider the
following questions:
1. To what extent were the objectives achieved? Or are likely to be achieved?
2. What are the major factors influencing the achievement or non-achievement of
the objectives?
Efficiency
An economic term which means that aid uses the least costly resources to
achieve the results. In other words, aid can get the most results for its economic contributions.
Efficiency measures the outputs – qualitative and quantitative – in relation
to inputs. This generally requires comparing alternative approaches to
achieving the same outputs, to see whether the most efficient process has been
used. In evaluating the efficiency of a programme or project, it is useful to consider
the following questions:
1. Were activities cost-efficient?
2. Were objectives achieved in a timely manner and at the least cost?
3. Was the programme or project implemented in the most efficient way compared
to alternative ways?
OECD 1999