Editor’s Note

The SDGs and ODA Evaluation

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in September 2015, calls on all countries to achieve 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), leaving no one behind. Japan has been making various efforts to achieve the goals under the SDGs Promotion Headquarters led by the Prime Minister. Through ODA evaluation, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan (MOFA) assesses whether Japan’s ODA policy is consistent with international priority issues. The consistency between Japan’s ODA policy and the SDGs are examined in the third-party evaluation contained in this annual report.

The 2030 Agenda mentions that improving evaluation capacity in developing countries is crucial for attaining sustainable development. Japan hosted the 15th ODA Evaluation Workshop in Colombo with the cooperation of the Government of Sri Lanka in February 2018, aiming to strengthen national evaluation capacities to achieve the SDGs. Participants from Asia-Pacific countries and inter-governmental organizations held lively discussions, sharing information and views under the theme of evaluation capacity building. This event served as a great opportunity for mutual learning and network building.

Internationally, the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) has been reviewing the current evaluation criteria in line with the 2030 Agenda. MOFA is contributing to its ongoing process with domestic stakeholders’ cooperation. In this manner, MOFA is committed to enhancing ODA policy evaluation, evaluation systems in developing countries, and international ODA evaluation criteria to best suit to the SDGs era.

Keiichi Muraoka
Director
ODA Evaluation Division
Minister’s Secretariat
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan