Editor's Note

As of December 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic is still weighing heavily on the lives and jobs of many people around the world. The pandemic has shaken us in ways that we could never have imagined and relentlessly forced us to behave differently.

The same is true for ODA evaluations, as we continue to explore ways of conducting evaluations under the shadow of the pandemic with restrictions on overseas travel and greater use of telework.

The greatest challenge that we face at present is our inability to travel to target countries for evaluations. In the past, ODA evaluations were carried out through field surveys to obtain hands-on information, but we have been forced to forgo this under the current circumstances.

How can we overcome this inability to visit partner countries to check the situation there and to meet government officials and local residents directly? Each evaluation team is trying to come up with alternative approaches, such as conducting interviews through video conferencing systems and using local consultants.

However, the teams claim that the amount and quality of the information obtained through these approaches has been limited compared to field surveys, which would usually allow them to immerse themselves in the local environment and acquire multifaceted information through their five senses.

On the other hand, if we succeed in establishing effective remote surveying methods due to the current crisis, this may provide a window of opportunity for us to expand the potential for conducting evaluations in countries with security issues that have so far impeded evaluations. I am also hopeful that the use of digital technologies, developed and improved at an accelerated pace in the face of the pandemic, will increase the number of options that we have for conducting efficient and effective evaluations.

Uncertainty about the future means that we have to flexibly use whatever options are available to us until we have overcome the crisis, and I believe that such efforts will prove invaluable in tackling future challenges. Just like we do for ODA projects, we will carry on the process of learning from our experiences and improving our work.

Yasuko Nishino

Director, ODA Evaluation Division, Minister's Secretariat
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan