Evaluation of country stragies 2019

Description What is done in the programme or project and why, what results are pursued, who benefits from the activities and who are involved in the implementation.

Unit for Development Evaluation commissions an external evaluation of five country strategies that have not been previously assessed. The fragility of the context is a common feature that sets special needs and requirements to the cooperation with Afghanistan, Myanmar, Occupied Palestinian Territory, Syria, Iraq and Somalia. Peacebuilding and statebuilding play a central role in all five country strategies. Another common feature is that the strategies are mainly implemented through support to the multilateral organizations and development finance institutions that are present at the country level. Currently Ministry for Foreign Affairs regional departments are in the process of completing self-assessments of all country strategies. The outcome of self-assessment processes will be available to the evaluation team assessing the coherence of country stratgegies in terms of linking the objectives of foreign and security policy with development cooperation and humanitarian aid and peacebuilding efforts. Also higher than average risks and special needs in fragile states affect the setting and monitoring of result objectives. In addition to joint evaluation issues, the external evaluation study each country strategy separately. Evaluation focus will be determined on the basis of challenges identified during the self-assessment process.The sector and programme focus will depend on the expected value added of the evaluation results. The results of contry strategy evaluations will serve the drafting of the next development policy programme as well as updating the current country strategies for the next programme period.Evaluation is expected to contribute to further improving the effectiveness of country strategies. The external evaluation will be implemented within the framework agreement for evaluation management services.