Japan's Official Development Assistance White Paper 2010
4. Improving Evaluation
The “ODA Review” makes note of the need to improve the evaluation of ODA. By appropriately applying the “Plan, Do, Check, Act (PDCA) cycle” to ODA evaluations, Japan has improved the efficiency of ODA implementation and management and has ensured accountability to the public. Japan will make efforts to further strengthen the ODA evaluation arrangement and ensure that past lessons learned can be steadily reflected in future assistance. In addition, in order to promote the use of evaluation results, Japan is exploring the idea of doing research on evaluation schemes and implementing clearer evaluations which are easy to understand. Specifically, Japan is promoting or considering the following items.
(1) Strengthening the ODA evaluation arrangement: Increasing the independence of the evaluation division and recruitment of an external expert
In response to the recommendation made in the Japan DAC Peer Review report of June 2010, among other considerations, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs decided to enhance the arrangement and independence of its ODA evaluation division and increase the objectivity and the value of evaluations. In concrete terms, the Ministry is considering inviting an external person (e.g., expert) WHO has expertise and experience to head the Ministry’s ODA evaluation division, as well as separating the division from the ODA policy division. In addition, an ODA Opinion Box (tentative name) will be put in place so that opinions and recommendations from external and field staff, such as NGOs and consultants, will reach the Ministry and JICA more easily.
(2) Mechanisms for ensuring that lessons are learned from past good practices and failures
To further build on the lessons learned and recommendations from evaluations, the Ministry will conduct thorough evaluations that will contribute to improving the quality of ODA and maximizing its efficiency. Specifically, for the policy-level evaluations, the cases to be evaluated will be selected in accordance with the priorities of Japan’s foreign policy and development cooperation. At the project level, a detailed evaluation will be conducted for the selected projects from which useful lessons are expected to be drawn, in addition to ex-post evaluation. The evaluation results will then be fed back to the project formulation and selection stages through an improved mechanism. Additionally, the Ministry will further develop the procedure to make sure that lessons from past projects in a country or similar projects are fully reflected at the time of formulation and selection of individual projects.
(3) Improving information accessibility by raising the visibility of evaluation
It is important that the results of ODA evaluation are shared with relevant government ministries and agencies as well as the public, including NGOs, relevant companies, and researchers, and that accountability is ensured. At the same time, it is vital that the Ministry provides various materials for discussion on ODA. To this purpose, evaluation reports will be made more easily readable by using simple language, avoiding technical terms as much as possible, and using photos and charts. The Ministry is also considering the merits of introducing a ratings system for its policy level evaluations (i.e., rating a project according to a scale, rather than describing the evaluation results in long sentences). As before, the evaluation reports will be available on the websites of the Ministry and JICA.