In Germany, development cooperation is the policy field with the longest tradition in evaluation. All major German organisations in development cooperation use the instrument of evaluation - however, to different degrees with regard to qualitative and quantitative aspects. This study on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) analyses methodically analyses the way the different organisations evaluate, how much they know about the impact of their projects and programmes, and if or how their evaluation systems can be integrated into a larger whole. Until now, there has been no comparable analysis, neither in other German policy fields nor in development cooperation of other European countries.

Table of Contents:
0 Summary; 0.1 Evaluation of development cooperation under changing conditions; 0.2 Findings; 0.3 Recommendations; 1 Background and objectives of the study; 1.1 The need for a new System Analysis; 1.2 System analyses and the reform agenda to date: a balance sheet; 1.3 Changing international development policy conditions and consequences for evaluations in the coming years; 1.3.1 Changing development cooperation objectives in the 1990s; 1.3.2 New political agenda since 2000; 1.3.3 The future development of framework conditions: three scenarios; 1.3.4 Changing implementation modalities; 1.3.5 Consequences for evaluation, methodological implications of change; 1.3.6 Implications for the North-South partnership; 1.3.7 Conclusion; 1.4 Changing national development cooperation framework conditions; 1.4.1 International trends and implementation; 1.4.2 Changes in the objectives of German development policy as a result of the MDGs; 1.4.3 Ownership and alignment; 1.4.4 Harmonisation & coherence; 1.4.5 Orientation towards impact; 1.4.6 Volume of German development cooperation; 1.4.7 Summary; 1.5 More recent developments in the evaluation of development cooperation; 1.6 Objective of analysis; 2 Study design; 2.1 Definitions and demarcation lines; 2.2 Development cooperation agencies in the study; 2.3 Methods used; 2.3.1 Foundations; 2.3.2 Data collection methods, instruments and evaluation methods; 2.4 Workflow for the study; 2.5 Evaluators and directors; 2.5.1 Directors; 2.5.2 Evaluators, assignment to development cooperation institutions, other domains of responsibility; 2.5.3 Peers; 2.6 Acknowledgement; 3 The evaluation systems of German development cooperation agencies: An analysis of their institutional, conceptual, methodological and systemic features; 3.1 Introduction; 3.2 Foundations and objectives of evaluation policy; 3.3 Institutionalisation and independence of the evaluation; 3.4 Planning and workflow in the evaluation; 3.4.1 Planning; 3.4.2 Workflow; 3.5 Forms of evaluation; 3.5.1 Introduction; 3.5.2 Forms and scope; 3.5.3 Resources; 3.6 Quality of evaluations; 3.7 Human resources; 3.8 Usage; 3.9 Involvement of partners; 3.10 Networking; 4 The quality of evaluation systems from the perspective of the DAC Principles; 4.1 Introduction; 4.2 Credibility and independence; 4.3 Usefulness; 4.4 Quality; 4.5 Partnership; 4.6 Networking, system formation and change; 5 Recommendations for the reform of the evaluation systems; 5.1 Introduction; 5.2 System development; 5.3 Foundations and objectives; 5.4 Institutionalisation; 5.5 Planning and workflow; 5.6 Forums and scope; 5.7 Quality; 5.8 Human resources; 5.9 Usage; 5.10 Partners; 5.11 Networking