Abstract
AbstractThis chapter introduces strategic country cluster evaluations (SCCEs), a concrete example of how the Independent Evaluation Office (IEO) of the Global Environment Facility (GEF) has dealt with the increasing complexity of GEF programming. This complexity reflects the interconnectedness—in terms of both synergies and trade-offs—between socioeconomic development priorities and environment conservation imperatives that is typical of many country settings in which GEF projects and programs are implemented, such as least developed countries and small island developing states. SCCEs address this complexity by applying a purposive evaluative inquiry approach that starts from aggregate analyses designed to provide trends and identify cases of positive, neutral, or negative change, and proceeds to in-depth data gathering aimed at identifying the specific factors underlying the observed change in those specific cases. By establishing the interconnectedness and sequencing of the various evaluation components, rather than conducting these in parallel, SCCEs provide an opportunity to focus on a limited set of purposively selected issues that are common in clusters of countries and/or portfolios. This enables a comprehensive understanding of the factors at play in complex national and local settings.
Highlights
Since the early 1990s, evaluations have been conducted according to the five criteria of relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, impact, and sustainability (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Development Assistance Committee [OECD DAC], 1991, 2019)
The introduction of more complex delivery modalities that started in the 2000s—sector approaches, budget support modalities, and programs—and the advent of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), recently replaced by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), brought about a corresponding increased complexity in evaluation
To better capture the successes and challenges the Global Environment Facility (GEF) has faced in its move toward more complex, integrated programming, Independent Evaluation Office (IEO) evaluations increasingly consider innovative ways to address the complexity of assessing the environmental with the social and economic, including how these three dimensions play out at the national and local levels
Summary
Since the early 1990s, evaluations have been conducted according to the five criteria of relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, impact, and sustainability (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Development Assistance Committee [OECD DAC], 1991, 2019). From a project-based delivery institution focusing on the environment, the GEF is increasingly moving toward more complex, programmatic, interconnected, and synergetic delivery modalities that consider the environmental with the social and economic dimensions. These GEF integrated programming modalities aim at tackling the main drivers of environmental degradation and achieving impact at scale (GEF Independent Evaluation Office [IEO], 2018a). To better capture the successes and challenges the GEF has faced in its move toward more complex, integrated programming, IEO evaluations increasingly consider innovative ways to address the complexity of assessing the environmental with the social and economic, including how these three dimensions play out at the national and local levels. The way GEF support is operationalized at the country level is increasingly a key IEO area of enquiry
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