public policy Archive

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Evaluation in Decision Making for Public Policies and Programmes, Conference, South Africa

– 7 October 2011Posted in: Africa

Second National Capacity Development Conference, South Africa.

UNDP Evaluation Office and the office of the Public Service Commission of South Africa co-hosted the second International Conference on National Evaluation Capacities (NEC) in Johannesburg, South Africa, held over 2.5 days from 12 to 14 of September 2011. This year’s conference had the theme of Use of Evaluation in Decision Making for Public Policies and Programmes and offered plenary discussions and panels with the following sub-themes:

· Systemic factors contributing to use of evaluation

· Impact of audits and budgeting in evaluation

· Monitoring and how it facilitates the use of evaluation

· Establishing evaluation systems, taking use of evaluation into account

The participants also discussed implications for their national contexts and next steps leading to the 2013 conference. To learn more about the conference and download papers and presentations please visit the Conference Website.

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Are Evaluations Useful? A Review of the Literature on Knowledge and Decision-making

– 3 April 2011Posted in: Evaluation

Are Evaluations Useful? A Review of the Literature on “Knowledge and Decision-making”.

by Agence Française de Développement

The use of evaluations to improve public policy-making is a central issue in a number of ongoing debates in the development aid sector, notably in connection with the drive to increase aid effectiveness and develop impact evaluations. A vast body of literature has studied this question, drawing its theoretical references from
more general works that examine how research is used in the social sciences, or more specifically how research results are used (evidence use) to improve public policy-making. This open-ended/broad review of the literature focuses on identifying key points from selected studies in order to further this ongoing debate.

In the first section, the theoretical framing for using research in decision-making will be described, based on the literature dealing with the various utilisation models and the factors that influence them.

The following section will focus more directly on evaluation. First, the particularities of evaluation as opposed to research will be examined and then utilisation models and determining factors will be analysed in light of these specificities.

A brief conclusion will present the key lessons that the authors have drawn from their review of the literature with respect to their own experience.

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