Intended or unintended change caused directly or indirectly by the delivery of an output, project or programme.
See also: “Assumption”, “Attribution”
The extent to which a project or programme attains its objectives, expected accomplishments and delivers planned outputs.
A measure of how well inputs (funds, expertise, time, etc.) are converted into outputs.
See also: “Effectiveness”, “Impact”
Recipient of an output or accomplishment.
See also: “Stakeholder”, “Beneficiary”
Extent to which an activity or a programme can be evaluated in a reliable and credible fashion.
See also: “Evaluation”, “Terms of reference”
A process that seeks to determine as systematically and objectively as possible the relevance, effectiveness and impact of an ongoing or completed programme, project or policy in the light of its objectives and accomplishments. It encompasses their design, implementation and results with the view to providing information that is credible and useful, enabling the incorporation of lessons learned into both executive and legislative decision-making process. Evaluation is often undertaken selectively to answer specific questions to guide decision-makers and/or programme managers, and to provide information on whether underlying theories and assumptions used in programme development were valid, what worked and what did not work and why.
See also: “Cluster evaluation”, “Ex-post evaluation”, “External evaluation”, “Formative evaluation”, “In-depth evaluation”, “Internal evaluation”, “Joint evaluation”, “Meta-evaluation”, “Participatory evaluation”, “Project evaluation", “Self-evaluation”, “Strategic evaluation”, “Summative evaluation”, “Thematic evaluation”
A framework that establishes the focus of an evaluation in terms of questions to address, the issues to be covered, and defines what will be analyzed and what will not be analyzed. The scope defines the parameters of the evaluation and is presented in the “Terms of Reference”.
See also: “Terms of reference”
Group of specialists responsible for the planning and conduct of an evaluation. An evaluation team produces the evaluation report.
See also: “Evaluation”, “Terms of reference”
An individual involved in all stages of the evaluation process, from defining the terms of reference and collecting and analyzing data to developing findings and making recommendations. The evaluator may also be involved in taking corrective action or making improvements.
See also: “Evaluation team”
The information presented to support a finding or conclusion. Evidence should be sufficient, competent and relevant. There are four types of evidence: observations (obtained through direct observation of people or events); documentary (obtained from written information); analytical (based on computations and comparisons); and self-reported (obtained through, for example, surveys).
See also: “Assumption”, “Attribution”, “Bias”, "Causal relationship”, “Indirect effect”
Output category that includes the following output types:
See: “Output”, ”Output category”
An assessment of the relevance, effectiveness and impact of a programme or project that is carried out some time after its completion. It may be undertaken directly after or long after completion. The intention is to identify the factors of success or failure, to assess the sustainability of results and impacts, and to draw conclusions that may inform other projects and programmes.
See also: “Evaluation”, “Best practice”, “Lesson learned”, “Learning”, “Summative evaluation”
An evaluation performed by entities outside of the programme being evaluated. Generally, it is intergovernmental organs that commission such evaluations and receive final reports on them. As a rule, external evaluation of a project, programme or subprogramme is conducted by entities free of control or influence by those responsible for the design and implementation of the project and programmes.
In the United Nations Secretariat, there are two types of external evaluation, namely: (1) Mandatory External Evaluation and (2) Discretionary External Evaluation. (Under exceptional circumstances, the Secretary-General may commission high level external evaluation undertaken by renowned authorities or experts)
See also: "Evaluation", "Internal evaluation", "Mandatory external evaluation", "Discretionalry external evaluation"
A desired outcome or result involving benefits to end-users, expressed as a quantitative or qualitative standard, value or rate. Accomplishments are the direct consequence or effect of the delivery of outputs and lead to the fulfilment of the envisaged objective.
See also: “Accomplishment”, “Result”, “Statement of accomplishment/results achieved”, “Indicator”, “Logical framework”
Event and/or condition that is beyond the control of those responsible for an activity but that has an effect on the success or failure of the activity. It may be anticipated in the form of assumptions or they may be unanticipated.
See also: “Assumption”, “Attribution”, “Causal relationship”, “Logical framework”