Evaluation of aid programmes

The demand for robust evaluation of aid programmes and approaches has never been higher – particularly given the emphasis currently placed by donors on measuring and demonstrating the impact of their investment. From reviews of specific programmes to long-term evaluations of the effectiveness of a country’s aid strategy, OPM can provide the rigour and insight donors need.

At OPM, we have expertise in all the core elements of evaluation, including theory-based evaluations built on an intervention logic, literature reviews, country case studies, statistical and technical analysis. However, we have also used more innovative approaches, ranging from new evaluation tools such as online user surveys right through to evaluations that incorporate political economy analysis.

These political economy evaluations provide a richer understanding of aid relationships and different stakeholder perspectives, and ultimately lead to greater insight into barriers encountered. Such an approach helps identify valuable lessons when evaluating a single programme. However, it really pays dividends when it comes to longer-term studies of aid approaches and strategies, where country relationships and socio-cultural factors have a significant influence on effectiveness.

For example, OPM’s evaluation of Norway’s aid relationship with Zambia from 1991 to 2005 not only showed which individual projects and programmes had proved most effective, but more importantly helped generate vital insights into why some underlying approaches worked better. In evaluating Uganda’s Poverty Eradication Action Plan, the OPM team looked not only at the way Uganda managed and used aid, but also at the interactions between the different donors and how effectively their input was harmonised. Current projects include an evaluation of policy based operations in the African Development Bank over the period 1999-2009.

Working either as a fully independent evaluator, or in a co-learning arrangement, OPM offers decades of experience and the resources to conduct snapshot evaluations as well as longer-term studies around the world.