68 - Evaluation evidence generation lessons and challenges: The case of joint evaluations for the World Food Programme Regional Bureau Southern Africa and Indian Oceans

Abstract Information: Joint evaluations have been labelled instruments for strengthening national evaluation capacity development and as catalysts of strengthened collaboration and platforms for the joint ownership for evidence generation and use. The World Food Programme Office of Evaluation (OEV) through the WFP Evaluation Policy (2022-2030) has ensured that joint evaluations amongst other evaluation types are incorporated as part of the implementation of the Corporate Evaluation Strategy (CES) which cascades into the evaluation activities of the Regional Bureaux (RBs) and Country Offices. The WFP evaluation strategy highlights the importance of exploring opportunities to use joint evaluations as instruments for strengthening national evaluation capacities in partnership as well as for joint learning and accountability with United Nations agencies, government institutions, cooperating partners and other actors. It is anticipated that the opportunity to jointly commission and manage evaluations with the national governments will result in improved skills and capabilities of government counterparts to generate and use evaluation evidence to inform policies, strategies and programmes that will enhance the food and nutrition security of vulnerable populations. Furthermore, the WFP Corporate Evaluation Strategy asserts that the Office of Evaluation, together with regional evaluation units, selected country offices and national partners will document lessons from WFP engagement in national evaluation capacity development. This will inform a national evaluation capacity development (NECD) action plan that will guide WFP work in NECD over the period of this strategy. Thirty-six percent of all joint evaluations across WFP have been commissioned within the Southern African region. This region is in the forefront in working with Governments in commissioning joint evaluations as part of technical assistance and strengthening of national evaluation capacity development.

The poster seeks to take stock of what has worked, the challenges, lessons and areas for improvement arising from these joint evaluations with Government and other stakeholders in order to improve the collaborative evidence generation and its use for the benefit of the populations.