Evaluations

Printeremail

Welcome to the USAID/ Southern Africa clearinghouse for regional program evaluations.  Evaluation in USAID has two primary purposes: accountability to stakeholders and learning to improve effectiveness.

Accountability: Measuring project effectiveness, relevance and efficiency, disclosing those findings to stakeholders, and using evaluation findings to inform resource allocation and other decisions is a core responsibility of a publicly financed entity. For evaluation to serve the aim of accountability, metrics should be matched to meaningful outputs and outcomes thatare under the control or sphere of influence of the Agency.  Accountability also requires comparing performance to ex ante commitments and targets, using methods that obtain internal validity of measurement, ensuring credibility of analysis, and disclosing findings to a broad range of stakeholders, including the American public (partially via this website).

Learning: Evaluations of projects that are well designed and executed can systematically generate knowledge about the magnitude and determinants of project performance, permitting those who design and implement projects, and who develop programs and strategies – including USAID staff, host governments and a wide range of partners – to refine designs and introduce improvements into future efforts. Learning requires careful selection of evaluation questions to test fundamental assumptions underlying project designs, methods that generate findings that are internally and externally valid (including clustering evaluations around priority thematic questions), and systems to share findings widely and facilitate integration of the evaluation conclusions and recommendations into decision-making.  These two purposes can be achieved simultaneously and span all projects.  However, neither of these purposes can be achieved solely through the evaluation function. Each requires intentional actions by senior management to foster a culture of accountability and learning, and to provide appropriate incentives (and minimize disincentives) for staff at all levels.

Regional evaluations will be posted as they are completed.  There are no current evaluations but please check back periodically.