SOLUTIONS

4
From the AfDB
Evaluator General
Rakesh Nangia
Emerging Issues
in Evaluation
Welcome to eVALUAtion Matters. In this issue, we focus on emerging issues in development and in
development evaluation.
Good evaluators always look in the rear-view mirror to avoid pitfalls as they chart out the way forward.
In my rear-view mirror, I observe great progress as well as rapid and significant changes taking place in
the still nascent field of development evaluation. Thus, to me, it is no surprise that 2015 was declared the
International Year of Evaluation. A key objective of designating 2015 the International Year of Evaluation
is to advocate and promote evaluation and evidence-based policy making at international, regional,
national and local levels. This is important, for despite the progress made, development evaluation and
use of evidence to make policy decisions is still in its infancy.
Evaluation is generally recognized as a key feature of every learning organization. In Africa in particular,
it is growing, albeit slowly, as a full-fledged discipline and practice within governments and organizations.
This evolution positively affects the development process, pushing further the effectiveness of initiatives
by measuring success, assessing progress, enabling mid-course correction, fostering the learning of
lessons, focusing most importantly on evidence. In the last edition of eVALUation Matters, I mentioned
the increasing interest in impact evaluation largely due to its ability to assess changes (intended and
unintended) that can be attributed to an initiative.
Assessing impact through rigorous scientific methods remains key to maintaining the development process
on sound and solid foundations. Impact evaluation thus seems to be one of the (re) emerging issues that pose
questions around the opportunity and costs of applying experimental or quasi-experimental methods
to inform policy decisions.
Beyond this traditional debate on scientific methods, I am keen to see an evaluation community that has
greatly diversified its areas of interest by opening up evaluative thinking to various political and developmental
themes. With the shift from the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to the Sustainable Development
eVALUatiOn Matters