Webinar on the Guidebook

Evaluation to connect national priorities with the SDGs

12 May 2020

9.00 am – 10.15 am EDT

Ada OcampoSenior Evaluation Specialist UNICEF

Ada is Senior Evaluation Specialist at UNICEF and co-chair ofEVALSDGs. She represents UNICEF at EvalPartners and supports theSecretariat of the Global Parliamentarians Forum for Evaluation(GPFE).

She was one of the founders of the International Organization forCooperation in Evaluation (IOCE) and of the Latin AmericaEvaluation Network (ReLAC).

Ada is a Peruvian sociologist with a master’s degree inDevelopment Planning and Management (University of Wales, UK).

Stefano D’ErricoHead of Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning, IIED

Stefano is the Head of Monitoring, Evaluation and Learningat the International Institute for Environment andDevelopment (IIED).

Since April 2016, Stefano has been leading the production ofthe series effective evaluation for the SDGs which hasresulted in 14 knowledge products co-developed withEVALSDGs, the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland, UNICEF,the IEG World Bank, the IEO UNDP, The GlobalParliamentarians Forum for Evaluation, EvalPartners, UNWomen, and the Nereus Programme.

12th May 2020Download the guidebook at:

https://pubs.iied.org/17739IIED/

Connecting national priorities with the SDGs

17 goals, 169 targets, 232 indicators, and one question: how do we know if we are on the right track?

1. Evidence use is the king

2. Define scope and focus

3. Don’t miss the forest for the trees

Agenda 2030 principles that useful in evaluation processes

Ø Integration/coherenceØ Leave no one behindØEquityØResilienceØEnvironmental sustainabilityØUniversalityØMutual accountability

3. Reconstruct the logic underpinning national policies

System thinking and theory of change analysis are useful for clarifying the aims of existing policies, the logic that underpins them and the ways in which agents perceive them.

This material is adapted by the publisher from “A safe and just space for humanity: Can we live within the doughnut? – Kate Raworth – Oxfam 2012

Dorothy LucksExecutive Director SDF Global, Co-chair EVALSDGs

Dorothy has over 20 years of experience in strategic sustainabledevelopment and evaluation, covering project, programme,institutional and thematic evaluations.

She is the executive director of SDF Global, a company thatconducts strategic and evaluative work worldwide, and co-chair ofEVALSDGs.

Dorothy has also acted as an Evaluation Team leader for MOPAN III(Multilateral Organization Performance Assessment Network) thatcomprises a performance assessment process for a consortium of18 donors.

CONNECTING NATIONALPRIORITIES WITH THE SDGS

A Guide for Evaluators

Dr Dorothy LucksEVALSDGs Co-Chair

Step 1. Identify the overall objective of the evaluation

Step 2. Prepare for an SDG evaluation

Step 3. Use the 2030 agenda principles to inform criteria and questions

Step 4. Frame the Evaluation

Conduct the Evaluation

Steps for Evaluation Towards Achieving the SDGs

Step 1. Identify the overall objective of the evaluation

Step 2. Prepare for an SDG evaluationSteps for Evaluation Towards Achieving the SDGs

What will the evaluation be used for?By whom?

- Engage with different stakeholders to discuss needs and priorities

- Consider linkages/systems from the beginning

• Be realistic and focussed about scope• Be participatory in design (& implementation and dissemination)• Identify policies and plans to be

evaluated & required national processes

Step 3. Use the 2030 agenda principles to inform criteria and questions

Steps for Evaluation Towards Achieving the SDGs

Consider each of the principles to ensure a balanced and equitable approach to the

evaluation

Integration/coherenceLeave No-one behindEnvironmental SustainabilityEquityResilienceUniversalityMutual accountability

Step 3. Use the 2030 agenda principles to inform criteria and questions

Step 4. Frame the Evaluation

Conduct the Evaluation

Steps for Evaluation Towards Achieving the SDGs

• Re/construct the logic underpinning national priorities -objectives, indicators, targets, link to SDGs

• Determine the most appropriate approach –systems, complexity, integration, participation

• Develop, cost & implement communication plan• Engage stakeholders in approach and timeframe• Highlight synergies, trade-offs and limitations

How is country-led SDG

evaluationunique?

Principles-focussed approach

• What is the value, to whom, why & how?

• Added value to existing Evaluation criteria & practice

Country-led initiatives are explicit

• Political engagement is important

• Recognise and leverage national policies & plans

• Identification of local champions

Integration

• 2030 Agenda provides common framework

• Explicit assessment of synergies and trade-offs

• Links between policies, programmes & local action

Draws on evidence from various sources• Beyond performance

& indicators• Probes systems &

causes• Tells stories, case

studies, examples.

Flexible & adaptable to context e.g. COVID-19,

climate change, etc.

Gonzalo Hernández LiconaEvaluation Specialist, Director of MPPN

Gonzalo has a strong experience as a leader in social policyevaluation and poverty measurement in Latin America. Since March2020, he is the Director of the Multidimensional Poverty PeerNetwork (MPPN).

He was Executive Secretary of the National Council for theEvaluation of Social Development Policy (CONEVAL) in Mexicobetween 2005 and 2018. Gonzalo holds a PhD in Economics fromthe University of Oxford and a master’s degree in Economics fromthe University of Essex.

@GHLicona

2030 Agenda: Challenges, Threats and Evaluation

Gonzalo Hernández Licona

May 2020

@GHLicona

2030 Agenda: Challenges

Political agreementThere’s no step-by-step handbook on

implementation

This general agreement doesn’t

reflect the diagnosis of any single country.

Requires immense amount of

coordination across sectors

Trying to handle 169 targets and 232 indicators may

become a bureaucratic exercise

It’s challenging to measure all indicators

Countries have ongoing development strategies: Should they start from scratch? What about the national priorities,

the national tools, our own unique path to development?

@GHLicona

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Development and SDGs as a bowling strategy: Priorities and interlinkages

@GHLicona

Evaluation to Connect National Priorities to with the SDGs

1) Take examples from Finland, Nigeria, Costa Rica

2) Designing participatory processes; setting up cross-sectoral participatory processes

3) Integrating SDGs planning with the National planning and with M&E Systems

22

@GHLicona

MEXIC

O2030 AGENDA

Social DevelopmentLaw

Mexican Constitution

Efective Access to Social Rights

End of Poverty

Multidimensional poverty

Clean Water and Sanitation

No Hunger

Good Health

ReducedInequalities

Quality Education

Good Jobs

Access to EducationAccess to HealthAccess to FoodAccess to Housing and ServicesAccess to Social Security

Income

Development Priorities: Multidimensional poverty strategy.Entry points for Transformation: GSDR2019

Sustainable cities

@GHLicona

• Rising Inequalities• Climate change• Biodiversity loss• Increasing amounts of waste. e-waste.• Maternal mortality• Hunger and malnutrition• Mortality from Non-Communicable Diseases (unhealthy diets, lack

of exercise, tobacco, alcohol drugs..)• Primary school enrolment; quality of education.• Water stress• Political and economic power to women.

Agenda 2030: Threats (Before COVID-19)

@GHLicona

Challenges in the implementation of SDGs in countries

• Countries may only make cosmetic things for the Agenda.

• The process may be rather burocratic.• La Agenda may only include:

• Monitoring some indicators, separately• Align public programs with SDGs. These alignement is

always there.

• The Agenda may confound public public operators.

@GHLicona

• Evaluation is about precise information, but also aboutstories and narratives.

• What story can we tell??

@GHLicona

Anu SaxénDirector Development Evaluation Unit, MFA Finland

Anu is the Head of the Development Evaluation Unit of theMinistry for Foreign Affairs of Finland. Before joining theevaluation unit, she was Deputy of Mission at the FinnishEmbassy in South Africa.She has almost 30 years’ experience of several specialist andmanagerial positions in the political and development affairs,private business, international business development andproject management. She has also held different managerialand leadership positions in donor and international financinginstitutions such European Commission and the World Bank.

Finland's Sustainable Development Policy Evaluation

Lessons Learned

Anu Saxén, DirectorEvaluation Unit, MFA FinlandWEBINARMay 12, 2020

Lessons Learned and Recommendations

1) Be timely and plan carefully and be focused

2) Keep the evaluation questions short and clear - the questions should be agreed as early as possible

3) Create ownership among political decision makers and civil society

4) Try to keep up participatory spirit – but make clear the fact that all expectations cannot be met

5) Allocate enough time for the entire evaluation process to allow for high quality work and broad participation

13.5.2020 29

Lessons Learned and Recommendations fromFinland6) Write the report in a ’conservative’ evaluation format, makes it easier for readers (large audience, people) to understand the complex process and its results

7) Recommendations to be well formulated, clear and easy to understand important for the political engagement and for the implementation of the Agenda2030. 8) Focus also on the opportunities - not only the challenges.

9) Visualize and simplify the complex issue for the policy makers.

10) When communicating the results, tie it to the actual challenges of the society and focus on the most important priorities.11) Make a dissemination plan at an early stage

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