Impact Evaluation & Evidence

What Europe can learn from business environment reform in the Western Balkans

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The European Union and the Western Balkans are not separated by a simple divide between good and bad regulation. Across countries, governments have adopted regulatory impact assessment, public consultation, digital services and administrative simplification. The more consequential difference lies in consistent implementation across the full regulatory cycle. EU Member States generally have stronger systems for … Read more

When Evidence is a Matter of Survival: How Evaluation Must Defend Our Democracies

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Fewer than 30 per cent of people worldwide live in a democracy now, down from half twenty years back, and with fake news running riot, evaluation isn’t just paperwork anymore, it’s a proper shield for democracy. Van der Knaap says it’s a two-way street: democracy needs solid, independent evaluation to keep governments honest and accountable, … Read more

New EU Evaluation Policy for External Action: What Changes for Stakeholders and Evaluators

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EU’s new Evaluation Policy for External Action doubles down on accountability, learning and impact – including for Global Gateway investments. Clearer roles, stronger use of evidence and strategic evaluations will make it easier to track what really works in partner countries and why, so Global Gateway can deliver measurable, sustainable connectivity and development impact. The … Read more

Values-Driven Causal Pathways Evaluations: Strengthening Rigor and Quality

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Values-driven causal pathways evaluations treat rigor not as control and replicability, but as how well evidence makes complex systems change visible in context. They centre evaluator reflexivity, methodological transparency, and diverse evidence, guided explicitly by values like equity, complexity, and learning utilisation. Inclusive, participatory practice and rubrics-based criteria such as triangulation, plausibility, transferability, and representativeness … Read more

AI and Evaluation: Key takeaways from recent #EvalforEarth discussions

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EvalforEarth’s recent discussions present a consistent message: Atificial intelligence can strengthen evaluation practice, but only when evaluators remain firmly responsible for judgment, validation, ethics, and contextual interpretation. Across the community’s webinars, technical guidance, and discussion materials, AI is treated not as a substitute for evaluators, but as a set of tools that can improve efficiency, … Read more

Evaluation Insights: EU Recovery and Resilience Facility

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Series Evaluation Insights for Policy and Programming (TL;DR) The EU Recovery and Resilience Facility, the EU’s EUR 723.8 billion pandemic recovery instrument, is broadly on track at its halfway point. By end 2023, EUR 225 billion had been disbursed and roughly 75% of planned milestones met, with economic modelling projecting a GDP boost of up … Read more

AI in Monitoring & Evaluation – Glocal Evaluation Week 2026

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(tl;dr) The Global Evaluation Initiative has released a landmark white paper timed to Glocal Evaluation Week 2026. It gives M&E professionals a structured framework for asking better questions about AI, and the answers may surprise you. Barely a week passes without a new AI tool, guidance note, policy statement, or webinar landing in the inboxes … Read more

Skills on the Move: Key Takeaways from the DC dVET BarCamp

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(TL;DR) On 6 May 2026, the DC dVET kicked off its anniversary BarCamp webinar series with “Skills on the Move: How Migration Intersects with Dual VET”. Keynote speaker Helen Dempster (CGD Europe) argued that TVET investments and labour mobility pathways must be designed together from the start, not treated as separate tracks. A panel covered … Read more

Evaluation Insights: Strengthening Ukrainian SME Competitiveness Under Wartime Conditions

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Series Evaluation Insights for Policy and Programming ReACT4UA / EU4Business — Central Project Evaluation GIZ, Commissioned by BMZ | Co-financed by the EU and Norad | Ukraine | 2020–2025 Context Ukraine’s path toward EU accession has unfolded against the backdrop of one of the most severe crises in contemporary European history. The ReACT4UA / EU4Business … Read more

Evaluation Insights: Sparkassen as Partners in Transformation

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Series Evaluation Insights for Policy and Programming Evaluation Report: Program Evaluation of the KVP of the Deutsche Sparkassenstiftung für internationale Kooperation (DSIK) Evaluator: Madiba Consult GmbH, Bonn Commissioned by: Deutsche Sparkassenstiftung für internationale Kooperation (DSIK) Funded by: German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) Overall Rating: 86/100 — Successful (Level 2, OECD-DAC Scale) … Read more

Decentralization in Africa: Time for a Strategic Reset

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(TL;DR) Germany has invested heavily in decentralization in Africa and achieved real improvements at the local level, but national power structures remain largely centralized, so a strategic reset is needed to align future support with political realities, focus on fewer but stronger programs, and embed decentralization more smartly in democracy, service delivery, and sector reforms. … Read more

Beyond the Thick Report: Why Communication is the New Frontier for Impactful Evaluation

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(TL;DR) Evaluations are no longer judged primarily by methodological rigor, but by how effectively their findings are communicated and used in decision making. In Germany’s current context of budget cuts, political polarization, and institutional reform, evaluation is gaining strategic importance as a tool for evidence-based steering, while also facing new risks such as political misuse … Read more