16-December-2020
This year, IDEV celebrates 40 years of evaluation at the African Development Bank (AfDB). Ever since the first dedicated evaluation unit was established in 1980, evaluation has become an integral part of how the Bank operates, how it is held accountable and how it learns from what works and what does not. What was a small unit grew into the Operations Evaluation Department (OPEV) and eventually the Independent Development Evaluation function (IDEV) with over 40 staff. We spoke to some current and former team members and asked them for their reflections on their time at IDEV.
What has been the biggest change since you joined?
I joined the Bank on 4 March 1991 as Senior Evaluation Officer at what was to become IDEV, then the Operations Evaluation Department (OPEV). From first being part of research and planning, reporting to the President in the 1980s and 1990s, the department changed its reporting line to the Board, through its Committee of Operations and Development Effectiveness (CODE), in 1996. In 2002, OPEV’s mandate was clarified by a presidential directive and in 2007, the first independent evaluation policy was approved. It stressed the full compliance of the evaluation function with international norms and good practice standards across the Multilateral Development Banks. This was the biggest change since I joined the Bank, as the department became structurally independent.
Your most memorable moment?
For me, the most memorable moments were the efforts to develop evaluation capacity in regional member countries and the support provided to strengthen national evaluation systems and networks such as the African Evaluation Association (AfrEA), the Centers for Learning, Evaluation and Results (CLEAR), and other initiatives such as the Evaluation Platform for Regional African Development Institutions (EPRADI), the African Parliamentarians’ Network for Development Evaluation (APNODE), and the “Twende Mbele” Initiative.
In 1990, the Bank, through OPEV, organized the first conference on evaluation, which attracted attention from developing country governments and donors alike and was followed by other conferences, meetings, and training sessions in other parts of the world. Eight years later, in 1998, it was time to take stock of what African governments and donors had accomplished: a regional seminar and workshop on evaluation was held in Abidjan on 16–19 November 1998. It brought together delegates from 12 African countries, donors, and private sector professionals. The conference stressed that evaluation capacity in a country rests on real demand for evaluation to address real information needs, on appropriate institutional structures, and on the capability of evaluation personnel to provide the information needed in a responsive, professional, and timely manner. Since then, evaluation has been put high on the agenda of government decision-makers, donors, civil society organizations and the private sector in Africa.
What did/do you like most about working in evaluation at the AfDB?
The independence of the department and the transparency of its work, which enhances its credibility and utility. As such, IDEV increased its engagement with Bank Management by increasing consultations on its work program, which has shifted from project evaluation to higher-level evaluations that are strategically influential in discussions of the Board and Management. The department has also invested to enhance the quality of evaluations by adopting a dual review system, both internal and external, to ensure high quality of the evaluation design and implementation.
How do you see evaluation in the next 40 years: Challenges and opportunities?
Although considerable investments were made by the department in communication, the creation of an evaluation culture within the Bank remains a challenge. Increased action is still needed on the part of the Bank’s senior leadership and operations complexes to signal their commitment to effective use of evaluation lessons. The Bank needs to promote evaluative thinking to effectively help countries achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. Strengthening self-evaluation systems and evaluation capacity building activities in addition increasing real-time evaluations are especially needed during this pandemic, where tight and short feedback loops may overcome difficult lockdown conditions for quality evaluation implementation and use.