Publications

External Review and Evaluation Services of Forestry Programmes in Tanzania (ERET) team was contracted for three years (2020-2023) to conduct annual reviews and Mid-Term Evaluations of three forestry programmes in Tanzania: Forestry and Value Chain Development Programme (FORVAC), Participatory Plantation Forestry Programme phase 2 (PFP2), and Tree Outgrowers Support Programme (TOSP). The synthesis report presents the main findings and recommendations from the previous ERET reviews and provides recommendations for the current programmes as well as for the possible future cooperation in the forestry sector in Tanzania.

The Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland and the Federal Ministry of Education of Ethiopia commissioned a Mid-term Review of the technical assistance related to General Education Quality Improvement Programme for Equity (GEQIP-E).

Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland commissioned an external mid-term term review of the second phase of the land management project in Ethiopia (REILA II) in 2020.

This norm describes the meaning of misconduct in development cooperation and the procedure to be observed in the Ministry for Foreign Affairs in the event of suspected misconduct in development cooperation.

The Guidance Note provides practical information and guidance on the prevention and elimination of sexual exploitation, abuse and harassment (SEAH) in development cooperation and humanitarian assistance. The Code of Conduct outlines key terminology and principles, Finland's international commitments, Ministry for Foreign Affairs’ expectations for partners, risk factors for sexual exploitation, abuse and harassment (SEAH), and notifying suspicions.

Finnish Water Way – International Water Strategy Finland aims for responsible and equitable water security. The strategy extends to 2030 and builds on the key concept of the Finnish Water Way, a Finnish approach to sustainable water management based on close cross-sectoral collaboration.

The Finnish Water Way – International Water Strategy of Finland (2018-2030) is a joint guiding strategy of five ministries (Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Ministry of the Environment, Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment and the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health) that stakeholders can also make use of in their activities. The strategy is built on three pillars (I Water for Sustainable Development, II Water for People and III Water for Peace) and their cross-cutting objectives.

In 2000, the United Nations Security Council adopted Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security. Its implementation is binding on all UN Member States. The principal aim of the Resolution and the nine additional resolutions is to enhance women’s role and decision-making power in conflict prevention, conflict resolution and peacebuilding and to improve women’s security.

How strategic policy level evaluations are used – or are they used? The review assessed the use and utility of different types of evaluations, meta-evaluations and reviews carried out in 2015-2022.

The urgent need to defend against authoritarianism and to stand up for the values of liberal democracy is highlighted today by the increasing violations of human rights and the deterioration of security globally due to the Russian war on Ukraine.

In 2022, the European Commission adopted the proposal for the corporate sustainability due diligence directive to advance the green transition and protect human rights in the EU and beyond.

The report provides a concise critical analysis of the Proposal for a Directive on Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence by the Commission from the standpoint of the least developed countries (LDCs).

What works well and what does not work in Finland’s development policy and cooperation? Why are evaluations and evaluation capacity important? It is described in the annual report on development evaluation, which sums up the key results of the evaluations completed in 2022.

The insight report on the conference on Advancing Gender Equality through (Feminist) Foreign Policy convened by Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto. The conference was held in Helsinki, Finland on 16 November 2022.

The evaluation is a part of a series of evaluations conducted on projects implemented with the terminated Concessional Credit instrument. These evaluations support the programming, development, and management of the Public Sector Investment Facility (PIF) instrument.

The aim of this guidance note is to strengthen the coherence, complementarity and effectiveness of humanitarian aid, development cooperation and peacebuilding. The guidance note is intended as a practical tool especially for the use of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, diplomatic missions and stakeholders.

The evaluation concluded that on-going UN development system (UNDS) reforms have supported a coherent and effective UNDS response to socio-economic impacts of the crisis. There has been a focus on vulnerable groups, including women, refugees, youth, older people, people with disabilities and migrant workers. However, ensuring a strong focus on a more equitable and environmentally sustainable recovery, including action to address climate change, has been a challenge for UN country teams (UNCTs).

The strengthening of civil societies is an important goal in Finland’s development policy and a means to achieve other development policy goals. Supporting civil societies is important in the current world political situation, where civic spaces are shrinking and autocratization is on the rise.

An independent evaluation concluded that Finland’s process for influencing the European Union (EU) on development cooperation is relevant, coherent, reasonably efficient and runs smoothly. However, institutionalised Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) systems are almost non-existent.

The study analyses how Finnish education experts have been positioned within international organisations and have influence on development cooperation in the education sector. In addition, the study identifies the career paths of the experts and explores their views on Finland’s role in global development cooperation in the sector.

An independent evaluation concluded that Finland’s humanitarian assistance is relevant to beneficiaries and adapts to their changing needs. Significant results have been delivered on gender equality and disability. Then again, human resource constraints pose limitations and aid management system does not support Finland’s ‘adaptive capacity’.

The evaluation examined the effectiveness of international cooperation, and the combined response of host states, United Nations (UN) system agencies and non-governmental and civil society organisations, including refugee-led organisations (RLOs), in ensuring the protection of the rights of refugees during the global pandemic.

The External Review and Evaluation Team (ERET) is contracted for three years (2020-2023) to conduct Mid-Term Evaluations (MTE) and annual reviews of three forestry programmes: Forestry and Value Chain Development Programme (FORVAC), Participatory Plantation Forestry Programme phase 2 (PFP2), and Tree Outgrowers Support Programme (TOSP).

The evaluation covers a two-year period from January 2018 to December 2019 and provides an overall independent assessment of the performance of the PEGASE Direct Financial Support (DFS) paying particular attention to its results measured against expected objectives and the reasons underpinning such results. It provides key lessons learned, conclusions and related recommendations in order to improve current and future PEGASE programmes.

The Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland commissioned the Ex-Post Evaluation of the Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Project in Western Nepal (RWSSP-WN, 2008-2019) and the Final Evaluation of the Rural Village Water Resources Management Project (RVWRMP, 2006-2022). The evaluation covered all three phases of the RVWRMP and two phases of the RWSSP-WN.

The Multilateral Organisation Performance Assessment Network (MOPAN) is a network of 21 countries that assesses the performance of multilateral organisations. In 2020, MOPAN commissioned an independent external evaluation for the 2015-21 period. The evaluation addresses three main questions related to MOPAN’s efficiency, effectiveness, and relevance.

The evaluation is a part of a series of evaluations conducted on projects implemented with the terminated Concessional Credit instrument. These evaluations support the programming, development, and management of the Public Sector Investment Facility (PIF) instrument.

What do evaluations tell about the Finnish development policy and cooperation? The 2021 Annual Report on Evaluation showcases the main results and recommendations of evaluations over the past year.

Social protection is a human right and a key intervention in protecting against poverty and enabling sustainable growth. As new social protection instruments are designed for new challenges, such as external shocks (climate events, natural disasters, pandemics, wars/conflicts, displacement), there is a need to understand programmes better, and to consider gender implications.

The study was conducted to provide directions for Finland's long-term grant-based development cooperation towards new forms of partnerships in Nepal, in the wake of Nepal’s upcoming Least Development Country (LDC) graduation in 2026.

The independent assessment studied the Ministry for Foreign Affairs’ (MFA) response to the COVID-19 pandemic in order to learn from it and thereby enhance MFA’s ability to respond and adapt development policy and co-operation and humanitarian assistance in crisis situations.

The Finland in the World media 2021 is a summary of the responses of Finland’s missions abroad to a media monitoring survey

Evaluations are conducted in order to learn from successes and setbacks, and the lessons learned are used for further enhancing the quality of development policy and cooperation. Metaevaluations assess the quality of decentralized evaluations and aggregate findings from them to form an overall picture of the quality of development cooperation.

This independent report on the future cooperation between Finland and Estonia was drafted by the rapporteurs, ex-ministers Anne-Mari Virolainen and Jaak Aaviksoo, supported by the Finnish Institute of International Affairs and the Estonian Foreign Policy Institute. It was commissioned by the Finnish and Estonian governments. The report analyses the current state of the bilateral relations and gives recommendations on how to develop the Finnish-Estonian cooperation in the future.

This independent evaluation studied the future ambition and possibilities of the Finnish water diplomacy. At the same time it looked at the past water sector cooperation to identify lessons that can be learned from processes where diplomatic objectives are intertwined with technical cooperation.

Strengthening multilateral cooperation is a key long-standing objective of Finland's foreign policy. Tackling cross-border challenges, many of which are still unknown, requires cooperation based on a rules-based approach and international law.

The evaluation presents the results for five Institutional Cooperation Instrument (ICI) projects implemented in four South Asian countries (Afghanistan, Bhutan, India and Nepal) since 2011.

The independent evaluation of the seventh replenishment round of the Global Environment Facility (GEF) evaluates its results. The evaluation covers the years 2018-2021 and brings together the results of 34 separate evaluations conducted during that time, taking into account the final evaluations of 1,800 completed projects.

The UN Security Council Resolution 2250 Youth, Peace and Security, adopted in 2015, and the subsequent Resolutions 2419 (2018) and 2535 (2020) recognise the positive and active role of youth in preventing and resolving conflicts, building peace, and preventing violent extremism. Member States must take the needs and perspectives of youth into consideration and encourage young people to take part in decision-making and all stages of peace processes.

The External Review and Evaluation Team (ERET) is contracted for three years (2020-2023) to conduct annual reviews and Mid-Term Evaluations (MTE) of three forestry programmes: Forestry and Value Chain Development Programme (FORVAC), Participatory Plantation Forestry Programme phase 2 (PFP2), and Tree Outgrowers Support Programme (TOSP).

This independent evaluation assessed the transition process of Finnish-Vietnamese cooperation during 2008–2020. It strategically assessed the successes and weaknesses of transitioning and how Finland’s development cooperation has supported this transition towards more diverse and equal cooperation. Furthermore, the evaluation analyzed how have development cooperation and private sector instruments and actors achieved coherence and synergy. The report also highlights broader lessons from the transition of Finnish-Vietnamese cooperation for similar processes in Finland’s other partner countries.

The Ministry for Foreign Affairs and other ministries have jointly updated Finland’s Governmental Action Plan on China from 2010. The Action Plan on China 2021 provides an overall assessment of Finland’s relations and cooperation with China. The rapidly evolving international environment as well as need for relevant, up-to-date information within the government and other actors involved in cooperation with China have made it necessary to update the Action Plan. The Action Plan strengthens the consistent approach and policy line on China and does not entail any new policies.

On 27 May 2021, the Government adopted the Report on Development Policy across Parliamentary Terms. The aim was to form a shared overall view on development policy, widely supported by Finnish society.

This independent evaluation assessed the development policy and cooperation implemented during 2009-2021 by the Department for Russia, Eastern Europe and Central Asia, Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland. It strategically examined development cooperation as a whole, the different impacts achieved as well as the sustainability of results through the various funding channels over the decade. The evaluation covered 11 countries under the Department, of which Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Ukraine were analyzed in more detail. The evaluation presents recommendations that can help improve development policy and cooperation in the region. The report also highlights broader lessons from this region for the Ministry in general.

Kehitysevaluoinnin vuosiraportissa esitetään yhteenveto evaluointien esiintuomista kehityspolitiikan ja -yhteistyön vahvuuksista sekä kehittämiskohteista. Viime vuonna toteutetut laajat evaluoinnit kohdistuivat mielenkiintoisiin ja ajankohtaisiin mutta samalla haastaviin kehityspolitiikan ja -yhteistyön kysymyksiin. Evaluointien aiheina olivat maaohjelmat hauraissa konteksteissa, vaikuttaminen monenkeskisessä yhteistyössä sekä kumppanimaiden talouden vahvistaminen.

The Guideline supports effective implementation of the Finnish Development Policy and its cross-cutting objectives.

In Finland, the participation rate of teacher education students in international mobility is low when compared to students in other faculties. The same tendency applies to teacher education students in other Nordic and European countries. Moreover, the number of teacher education students from Europe seeking mobility to developing countries is very small.

The Responsibility to Protect is the last available measure when a state fails to protect its population against extensive atrocity crimes. The principles were adopted at the UN Summit 15 years ago.

The evaluation examined how Finland's support has contributed to strengthening the economy, creating jobs and improving livelihoods in partner countries. It assessed how development policy objectives had been achieved, what were the strengths and weaknesses of the assistance provided, and proposed measures to strengthen development cooperation in this field.