Series Evaluation Insights for Policy and Programming
Context
The report “External Evaluation of Sida‑Funded ISO Capacity‑Building Activities” reviews two closely linked interventions implemented by the International Organization for Standardization’s Capacity Building Unit and funded by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, Sida. The first is the ISO Action Plan for Developing Countries 2016–2020, which provides a global framework for technical assistance and capacity development for national standards bodies in developing countries; the second is the regional project “MENA STAR” that operated in eight Middle East and North Africa countries plus Syria from 2013 to 2018. The overarching development challenge addressed is weak national quality infrastructure and limited participation of developing countries in international standardization, constraining their ability to use standards to support trade, sustainable development, and climate action.
The interventions respond to Sida’s mandate to reduce poverty and oppression and to Sweden’s regional strategy for the MENA region, which emphasizes democratic governance, human rights, gender equality, sustainable economic development, and regional integration. MENA STAR was implemented in Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, State of Palestine, Tunisia and, later, Syria, targeting national standards bodies and their wider ecosystems, including regulators, trade‑support institutions, and firms in key sectors such as energy, environment, and water. Globally, the Action Plan targets national standards bodies in developing countries, including least developed countries, with an explicit ambition to raise their participation in ISO technical work and to contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals.
Intervention Overview
The ISO Action Plan for Developing Countries 2016–2020 is the strategic framework for ISO’s capacity‑building work, financed primarily by Sida and ISO members. Its objectives are to strengthen good standardization practices, support the development of national standardization strategies, enhance promotion and use of standards in support of public policies and markets, and increase effective participation of developing countries in international standardization. Key components include regional and national training, sponsorship to ISO technical committees, tools and guidance on standardization governance, marketing and communication, as well as needs‑based support to national standards bodies.
MENA STAR is a regional project designed as a more intensive, thematically focused complement to the global Action Plan. It has two main components: strengthening national quality infrastructure institutions, particularly national standards bodies and regulators; and promoting good practices for sustainable development by encouraging business and industry to adopt international standards in areas such as energy management, environmental management, life‑cycle assessment, and water footprint. Innovative features include a structured institutional strengthening process based on needs assessments, regional peer learning, pilot projects with firms to apply standards “by doing,” and an explicit link to climate change and the Sustainable Development Goals.
Evidence: What Worked
The evaluation concludes that both the Action Plan and MENA STAR were implemented in line with their mandates and objectives and that they successfully built knowledge and skills among national standards bodies, particularly regarding standardization practices, strategy development, and participation in international technical work. Training activities were highly valued when they were targeted to day‑to‑day tasks of staff, supplemented by high‑quality training materials, and delivered by senior experts, leading to tangible improvements such as documented procedures, strategies, key performance indicators, and marketing plans within national standards bodies.
Relevance was strong: the Action Plan offered an up‑to‑date package responding to clearly identified needs of developing‑country standards bodies, including project management in standards development, dissemination of standards, communication of benefits, and governance of technical work. In MENA STAR, institutional strengthening action plans derived from thorough needs assessments were considered relevant in three‑quarters of beneficiary countries, and the sustainable development focus on energy, environment, and water standards aligned with growing national and global emphasis on climate and the SDGs.
In terms of effectiveness, around sixty percent of Action Plan activities had been completed by the end of 2018, with outcome area two – national standardization strategies – the most advanced: approximately forty‑one percent of participating standards bodies had finalized or nearly finalized their national strategies, including several least developed countries. These strategies have begun to influence participation in ISO technical work, because they require prioritization of sectors, resource planning, and stakeholder engagement, thereby structuring more targeted, effective contributions to standards development.
MENA STAR effectively strengthened the “standardization pillar” in participating countries, with evidence of enhanced knowledge about WTO Technical Barriers to Trade obligations, improved functioning of enquiry points, and better collaboration between national standards bodies and trade‑support institutions. The project trained ninety‑four national trainers in energy management, environmental management, life‑cycle assessment, and water footprint, creating a regional pool of expertise that continues to deliver national training and on‑the‑job knowledge sharing.
There is emerging progress towards impact in both interventions. National standards bodies in the MENA region have begun to apply management system standards such as ISO 37001 on anti‑bribery, ISO 9001 on quality management, ISO 14001 on environmental management, and ISO 50001 on energy management within their own organizations, signalling institutional change and setting examples for other public bodies. In some firms, such as a power company in Jordan, applying life‑cycle assessment under ISO 14001 led to improved monitoring systems, better key performance indicators, and reduced running costs, demonstrating how standards can contribute to operational efficiency and environmental performance.
Evidence: What Did Not Work
Despite overall relevance and effectiveness, the evaluation identifies important gaps and limitations, particularly in translating individual learning into systemic change and policy reform. Many participants reported enhanced knowledge but faced obstacles in applying it when reforms required decisions at higher institutional or political levels; resistance could arise within ministries, from budget constraints, or from stakeholders reluctant to change existing practices.
The outreach to broader stakeholders beyond national standards bodies was mixed. While MENA STAR succeeded in engaging some trade‑support institutions and early‑adopting firms, consumer organizations, labour groups, and many small and medium enterprises remained marginally involved, limiting the inclusiveness of outcomes and public awareness of standards. In the global Action Plan, capacity building for consumer and civil society stakeholders was even more limited, leading to a situation in some countries where trade and export agendas dominate, but domestic consumer protection and pro‑poor use of standards are underdeveloped.
The sustainability of some MENA STAR pilot projects was constrained by weak demand from domestic private sectors and by the absence of strong regulatory and policy frameworks for national quality systems. In several cases, firms selected as pilots initially perceived standards, particularly environmental and social ones, as cost‑increasing obligations rather than as strategic investments, leading to resistance and difficulties in maintaining momentum once project support ended.
The evaluation also points to methodological and operational limitations. Surveys were issued later than planned and had a short response window, especially in the MENA region where they coincided with Ramadan and holiday periods, which reduced response rates from stakeholders. For the financial analysis, differences in how cost data were reported across years and between the Action Plan and MENA STAR made it difficult to construct comparable cost‑effectiveness metrics, limiting conclusions on value for money beyond basic expenditure tracking.
Lessons Learned
A key lesson is that robust, context‑sensitive needs assessments are critical for aligning capacity development with the priorities and capabilities of national standards bodies and their stakeholders. The MENA STAR institutional strengthening component, which combined needs assessments, tailored action plans, and follow‑up support, was perceived as relevant and created a stronger sense of ownership than more generic, one‑off training activities. For the global Action Plan, regular needs assessment surveys have helped identify growing demand in areas such as project management, dissemination of standards, and communication of benefits, demonstrating the value of systematic feedback loops.
Another lesson is the importance of involving a broad set of stakeholders – including academia, research institutions, consumer groups, and marginalized producers – in standardization processes and capacity building. The evaluation highlights that academia can be a natural ally in developing curricula and research on standardization, while government commitment is a prerequisite for engaging other stakeholders and for embedding standards in public policies and regulatory frameworks.
Language barriers and the technical complexity of standards can limit uptake, particularly among small firms and non‑specialist audiences, which underscores the need for user‑friendly guidance, communication materials, and local‑language resources. The evaluation notes that South–South dialogue and peer learning, including “competitive” regional collaboration, can be powerful drivers of reform and implementation, as seen in MENA STAR where regional approaches spurred interest in change and allowed weaker countries to benefit from stronger peers.
Implications for Policy and Programming
For policymakers, a central implication is that national quality infrastructure and standardization should be treated as strategic public goods anchored in national development and trade strategies rather than as purely technical add‑ons. Governments need to provide predictable mandates, budgets, and human‑resource frameworks for national standards bodies, while also ensuring that regulatory agencies systematically integrate international standards into policy design, market surveillance, and consumer protection.
Donors and international organizations can build on ISO’s experience by supporting longer‑term, programmatic approaches that go beyond training to include coaching, implementation support, and facilitation of policy dialogue. This entails designing interventions that integrate results‑based management, gender equality, and environmental and social outcomes explicitly into theories of change and monitoring frameworks, allowing progress to be tracked from individual learning to institutional and system‑level change.
Implementing partners should prioritize modalities that combine regional and national activities, as this mix has proven effective in stimulating peer learning and contextualized implementation. Regional projects can leverage “competitive collaboration” to encourage reform, while country‑level work can address specific institutional constraints, support pilot applications of standards, and tailor support to the capacities of local stakeholders.
Potential for Scaling and Transferability
The evaluation suggests that selected features of MENA STAR have strong potential for scaling and adaptation within the global Action Plan and in other regional or sectoral programmes. These include the structured institutional strengthening model based on diagnostics and action plans, the use of national trainers and learning‑by‑doing pilots, and thematic focus on standards that directly support sustainable development and climate objectives.[^1]
Scaling requires enabling conditions such as committed leadership in national standards bodies, alignment with national and regional development strategies, and cooperation with other actors in quality infrastructure, including accreditation and metrology organizations. It also requires attention to resource implications: while regional activities can be relatively low cost per participant, more intensive national support and pilots demand greater time and technical assistance, which may not be feasible everywhere without cost‑sharing by governments or firms.
Transferability is promising beyond the MENA region, as evidence shows that non‑MENA countries such as Colombia, Uganda, Kenya and South Africa have already used Action Plan support to integrate sustainable development themes into their work. However, adaptations are needed to reflect differences in institutional maturity, political economy, and sectoral priorities, and to ensure that approaches remain inclusive of poorer and marginalized groups who often lack voice in standardization.
Methodological Notes
The evaluation was conducted by Saana Consulting from February to July 2019, commissioned by ISO’s Capacity Building Unit following Sida’s guidelines and procedures. It applied a “realist” evaluation approach combined with OECD‑DAC criteria of relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, sustainability, and impact, using a mixed‑methods design.
Data collection instruments included document and portfolio analysis, process review, financial analysis, four stakeholder surveys, and six country case studies covering both MENA STAR and Action Plan countries. Country visits were undertaken to Morocco, State of Palestine, Jordan, Colombia, Uganda, and Cambodia, complemented by interviews with national standards bodies, trade‑support institutions, private‑sector participants, and international experts; additional engagement was organized with an Iraqi delegation visiting Jordan.
The evaluation faced limitations, including non‑representative country sampling focused on relatively active participants, delayed survey rollout with short response periods, incomplete financial data hindering precise cost‑effectiveness analysis, and the inability to conduct site visits to all pilot firms or observe day‑to‑day operations in national standards bodies. Nonetheless, the evaluators report high confidence in the validity of findings due to triangulation across sources and iterative validation with ISO and Sida, including inception and feedback workshops.
Stakeholder Perspectives
National standards bodies and their staff generally expressed strong appreciation for ISO’s capacity‑building support, viewing ISO as a professional, transparent, and honest organization and aspiring to emulate its practices nationally. Many standards bodies reported feeling more empowered and better recognized within their domestic ecosystems thanks to new strategies, procedures, and performance management tools, though they also highlighted persistent challenges such as staff retention and constrained budgets.
Trade‑support institutions and business associations that were actively engaged, for example in Jordan and Morocco, valued the project’s role in clarifying the role of standards in export competitiveness and facilitating closer collaboration with national standards bodies. In Morocco, business associations and cooperatives perceived tangible benefits from standards‑related support in terms of improved certification and market access for products, including those produced by women’s cooperatives in rural areas.
However, the perspectives of many small and medium enterprises, consumer organizations, and labour groups remain under‑represented, reflecting their limited involvement in project activities. Some firms, including pilot participants, voiced concerns about the perceived costs of implementing environmental and social standards, and their scepticism underscores the need for clearer value propositions, demonstration effects, and supporting policies or incentives.
Key Data Points and Indicators
The Action Plan completion rate for activities by end‑2018 was about sixty percent, with outcome area two on national standardization strategies reaching roughly eighty percent of planned activities. Approximately forty‑one percent of participating national standards bodies had finalized or were close to finalizing strategies, including several least developed countries.
Under MENA STAR, ninety‑four national trainers were trained across energy management, environmental management, life‑cycle assessment and water footprint, providing a regional resource base for continued capacity building. The project’s total expenditure amounted to about 4.25 million Swiss francs, representing 96.5 percent of allocated funds, while the Action Plan’s expenditures across 2016–2018 totalled roughly 3.77 million Swiss francs, with around thirty one percent devoted to strengthening strategic capabilities and twenty six percent to increased involvement in international standardization.
Engagement in WTO Technical Barriers to Trade notification systems increased in at least some MENA countries, with Egypt and Tunisia, for example, nominating focal points for the WTO’s ePing tool and issuing several hundred notifications over the period 2014–2019. Survey data from participants and institutions indicate high levels of reported knowledge uptake, perceived relevance of training, and expectations of sustaining results, although indicators of broader societal impact remain less developed and are not yet systematically tracked.
Further Resources and Links
Additional information on ISO’s capacity‑building programme, including fundraising materials and needs‑assessment surveys, is available through ISO’s official website and its dedicated capacity‑building portal. Sida’s mandate, strategies, and regional cooperation frameworks, including for the MENA region, are documented on the agency’s website and in Swedish government policy papers.
Background on ISO as an international standardization body, including its governance, membership, and overall mission to develop and publish international standards, can be found in official ISO and Geneva international community profiles. Saana Consulting provides a short public description of the ISO capacity‑building evaluation among its impact‑evaluation and evidence work.
Report Citation
Weitzenegger, Karsten, and Marie-Jo Char, and Amanda Shaw. External Evaluation of Sida-funded ISO Capacity-Building Activities. Final Report. Commissioned by International Organization for Standardization (ISO), Saana Consulting, London 2019.
Disclaimer: The author participated in this evaluation. The opinions expressed are solely those of the author and cannot be attributed to any affiliated organizations. Portions of the text and images were supported by artificial intelligence.