UN-DESA Evaluation Policy (2022)

Overview

This Evaluation Policy was initially endorsed in July 2012 as an important step towards enhancing UN DESA’s evaluation function and ensure its utility, credibility and independence and alignment with United Nations Evaluation Group’s (UNEG) Norms and Standards for Evaluation. It has undergone revisions based on renewed UN mandates and updated guidance on evaluation, the Administrative Instruction for Evaluation, and other evaluation documents within and outside the UN system, and in consultation with UN DESA subprogrammes. The first review and updates to the policy occurred in 2016, with the most recent revisions completed in March 2022.

The policy is based on the Administrative Instruction ST/AI/2021/3 on Evaluation in the UN Secretariat, the Secretary-General’s Bulletin on regulations and rules governing programme planning, the programme aspects of the budget, the monitoring of implementation and the methods of evaluation (ST/SGB/2018/3), the updated UN Evaluation Group (UNEG) Norms and Standards for evaluation1, and the Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) guidance on evaluation and development of evaluation policies. The policy sets to strengthen the institutional framework for the conduct of evaluation activities by the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA)2, to establish a common understanding and approach to the function, to
promote consistency in practice, and to encourage a strong culture of evaluation as a part of the programme management, integral to results-based management and fundamental to providing greater accountability and transparency to Member States. This policy is divided into two sections. The first section covers general evaluation principles for UN DESA; the second section is a plan setting out how UN DESA will implement the policy.

Document Details

Author

• Guenther Gross

Type

• UNEG Members' Evaluation Policies

Date

• May 2022

Downloads

• 1255

Tags

• Policy