Addressing environmental sustainability through the OECD DAC criteria for evaluation of development assistance

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This resource, from the Footprint Evaluation Initiative, discusses how the six evaluation criteria of the OECD DAC (Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development – Development Assistance Committee) can be used to get environmental sustainability on the agenda for evaluations and monitoring.

Authors and their affiliation

Footprint Evaluation Initiative

Key features

This document discusses how the six evaluation criteria of the OECD DAC (Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development – Development Assistance Committee) can be used to get environmental sustainability on the agenda for evaluations and monitoring. These criteria are widely used in international development organisations, and similar criteria are often used in other organisations. This document is based on existing guidance produced by OECD DAC  with additional commentary from the members of the Footprint Evaluation Initiative.

The OECD DAC evaluation criteria, and their one-line summaries, are:  

  • Relevance – is the intervention doing the right things?
  • Coherence – how well does the intervention fit?  
  • Effectiveness – is the intervention achieving its objectives? (this refers to all effects in the shorter term)
  • Efficiency – how are resources being used?  
  • Impact – what difference does the intervention make? (this refers to all effects in the longer term)
  • Sustainability – will the benefits last? (this focuses on the durability of benefits, not specifically on environmental sustainability)

The document shows how these can be elaborated in ways consistent with the original intent to make more explicit the implications in terms of addressing environmental sustainability.

How have you used or intend on using this resource?

I have used earlier versions of this document to guide the development of an evaluation  design for an evaluation which was using OECD-DAC criteria.  I intend to use it to guide further evaluation designs and also use it in capacity strengthening activities and materials.  

Why would you recommend it to other people?

The OECD-DAC criteria, and similar criteria, are widely used in evaluation so the issues are likely to be very relevant for many people.  The document shows how environmental sustainability is not an additional issue to be addressed in evaluation but something that should already be covered, although it is often not.

Sources

Footprint Evaluation Initiative (2023) Addressing environmental sustainability through the OECD DAC Criteria for Evaluation of Development Assistance. Version 1.2. Retrieved from: https://www.betterevaluation.org/tools-resources/addressing-environmental-sustainability-through-oecd-dac-criteria-for-evaluation-development

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