FOR WHOM THE BELL TOLLS: Improving Accountability for Policy through Evaluation

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FOR WHOM THE BELL TOLLSImproving Accountability
for Policy through Evaluation

• Sulley Gariba
• Institute for Policy Alternatives, Ghana
• www.ipaghana.org
• Presentation at the Workshop on Current
  Challenges for Development Evaluation Sussex
  University, October 2-3, 2006

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Evaluation Tradition is Changing but still
limited in its policy impact

• Development Evaluation practices increasingly
  becoming joint evaluations, but remains
  Government-led, without participation of other
  stakeholders in governance process CSOs,
  Parliament
• Focus has been primarily on improving efficiency
  and effectiveness, not usually policy reform
• Conduct of evaluation is by subject-matter
  experts, few evaluation specialists.
• Results disseminated in narrow circles even when
  available in public domain are not readable

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Framework Past to Present

• Evaluation for Effectiveness and Efficiency of
  projects and programs
• We recorded some success discrete projects were
  rated as successful, but overall poverty and
  development effectiveness results did not happen
  in tandem
• Some learning occurred, but insulated in projects
  and programs, no widespread country or
  cross-country learning
• Evaluation for Accountability
• Social accountability relevance of policies to
  societal needs (poverty reduction is, and ought
  to be fundamentally about the poor)
• Public accountability disclosures,
  transparency, public debate
• Policy Learning and Reform feedback of
  evaluation results into the policy process,
  through compelling channels.

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Evaluation for Accountability

• Broadening the Participants
• Evaluations Commissioned by independent body
  Parliament, civil society, institutions
  independent of policy formulation and programme
  implementation (note other purposes of
  evaluation efficiency and effectiveness should
  not be abandoned)
• Conducted by Evaluation facilitators where
  target communities are involved Review Panels
  where multiple stakeholders are engaged in making
  evaluative judgments

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Changing Methods

• Methods that promote both learning about Policy
  and Results
• Ensure Accountability for
• Public assurances (policy intent) were the
  right choices made?
• Public Expenditures did the budget get spent on
  the right things?
• Development Effectiveness Results (no longer
  limited to the LFA), but rather engaging
  stakeholderswho feels it knows it best

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Cases where this is happening

• Emergence of independent evaluation units in
  Government South Africa
• Use of mixed methods in public sector evaluations
  score card in Ghana Poverty Monitoring
• Civil society evaluations of poverty in Ghana,
  South Africa (IDASA)
• Parliamentary interest, learning engagement in
  participatory evaluations Uganda, Kenya, Ghana

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Challenges Way Forward

• Broadening Scope and Participation in evaluation
• Resistance by old players public sector
  implementation agencies and donors (who are part
  of the same policy-making and implementation
  crew) differentiating evaluation purposes and
  actors.
• Huge capacity-building task for the new players
  Parliaments independent evaluation units
  (which do not exist in most developing
  countries) civil society
• Defining issues for evaluation Moving from
  Evaluating Development Assistance to Evaluating
  Development -- How pro-poor is PRSP? Is Basic
  Education that Basic for the Poor? How Does
  National Health Insurance Assure Quality Health
  for all?
• Channels of dissemination of evaluation results
  that build a constituency for policy reforms
  media, affected communities for whom development
  policy and funding are dedicated

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We Need New IDEAS

• New Stakes New Stakeholders
• Shared understanding of development and the
  changes that are occurring
• Mutual accountability between North South
  but also within contending/cooperating governance
  systems Government, Private Sector, Civil
  Society and Peoples Representatives Parliament,
  Municipal Governance structures
• In all these we should not throw out the baby
  with the bathwater
• Maintain and strengthen Evaluation for Efficiency
  and Effectiveness of projects and programmes
• To strengthen delivery of essential services for
  citizens, especially the poorest and most
  vulnerable