Evaluation for Better Results

Abstract

This book marks 10 years of independent evaluation at the Asian Development Bank. It shares the journey to organizational and financial independence of evaluation and the transformation in evaluation approaches to support effectively accountability and learning. The book captures how evaluation is advancing from largely ex post assessments of programs and projects to a varied set of forward-looking and real time tools and innovations in evaluation methods. This book offers a collection of papers from distinguished development practitioners and evaluators around the world and shares experiences in capacity development for evaluation at the country level. Evaluation for better results requires connecting with development challenges in a changing development context, focusing on and measuring outcomes, and proposing lessons and solutions to improve results. Tried and tested approaches may not be enough by themselves for dealing with unfamiliar situations as well as with past development problems that remain intractable. Innovative approaches are crucial in evaluation methods and outreach to enhance rigor and influence.