In the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, independent operational evaluations focus on individual aid investments. These evaluations are generally managed by DFAT's country and regional programs.
This Review of Operational Evaluations examined 35 such evaluations completed in 2014. It is the second Review of Operational Evaluations. The first one examined 87 operational evaluations completed in 2012.
The Review examined the quality of operational evaluations (see Part 1). It found that evaluation quality is good and that they use modest financial and consultant resources. However, it is also clear that operational evaluations are not being used to their full potential and that DFAT does not have sufficient evaluation capacity to allow large numbers of evaluations to be conducted in-house. The Review makes four recommendations to address these issues.
The Review also identified novel or useful lessons on aid and evaluation which were highlighted in operational evaluations. Five such lessons are summarised in Part 2 of the report.
Finally, the Review identified good practice evaluation terms of reference, evaluation plans, evaluation reports and management responses.
ODE Brief
Part 1 – Quality Review
- Review of Operational Evaluations completed in 2014: Part 1 [PDF 870 KB]
- Review of Operational Evaluations completed in 2014: Part 1 [PPTX 5.42 MB]
Part 2 – Evaluation Snapshots
- Review of Operational Evaluations completed in 2014: Part 2 [PDF 83 KB]
- Review of Operational Evaluations completed in 2014: Part 2 [DOCX 101 KB]