Issues in Japanese Development Cooperation: Japan's ODA Evaluation and Evaluation Criteria

Abstract

Specific criteria are important for conducting evaluations and determining donor stances on Official Development Assistance (ODA), as well as for ascertaining how donors intend to use the evaluation results. This study examined how such criteria have been used in Japan’s project-level ex-post evaluations; the following paper discusses the related challenges and concerns to identify opportunities for improving the current system. A literature review revealed that, when conducting ODA evaluations, most donor agencies adopt the five Development Assistance Committee criteria. The results suggest that a conceptual framework should be used to conduct these evaluations. This will improve quality while also delivering information that meets the needs of the evaluation users. This framework should be further developed using information from research based on practical case studies of meta-level and organizational evaluation capacity development.