Evaluation Capacity Development

Introduction

Capacity development is about transformations that empower individuals, leaders, organizations and societies (UNDP, 2009). The process involves multiple and complex interlinked factors that contribute to each other. Capacity is defined as ‘the ability of people and organisations to define and achieve their objectives’ (OECD, 2006). So what is Evaluation Capacity Development and how is it defined?

Evaluation capacity development (ECD) is understood as “the process of unleashing, strengthening and maintaining evaluation capacities. Capacity development is a long-term, endogenous change process that takes place in the context of ongoing partner and donor efforts to strengthen related systems of management, governance, accountability

The VOPEs primary role is to ensure that Government policy exist for a strong and effective evaluation function, and advocate for it. For instance VOPEs create spaces for debates; promote discussions within government relevant circles, such as engaging Parliamentarians, and Public Media in the important of their affairs. They can also work and partner with universities and vocational institutions to ensure that educational programs exist and universities deliver diplomas that enrich and are recognised by the evaluation profession. There is an increase in the number of publications on the importance of, and the roles of the VOPEs, the enabling environment and Evaluation Capacities Development (ECD) and the links are strong (Rist, Martin and Boily 2011: 89).

The case study presented in this paper refers to support of the enabling environment for Evaluation Capacity Development in Nigeria by strengthening simultaneously both the supply and the demand sides for Evaluation. It describes the journey taken by Nigerian Evaluation leaders, the Ministry of Budget and National Planning and development partners to support the establishment of a Volunteer Organizations for Professional Evaluation in Nigeria

We used a robust theoretical framework derived from the New Institutional Economics and Game Theory, popularised among others by Douglas North and John Nash, both Nobel Laureates. The application of the theoretical framework generated concrete prescriptive actions that informed and guided the authors on how to proceed to operationalise the strategy and successfully address the problems that they were facing.

The paper is structured as follows: the first section introduces the descriptive context and the ‘problem’ faced by the Nigerian government and supporting development partners in establishing an effective VOPE, the second section looks at the key concepts used to inform a strategy in designing an effective intervention to support the Ministry of Budget and National Planning (MBNP) in addressing the problem and re-interpreting it in light of the adopted theoretical framework and the third section presents the results and way forward in fulfilling the establishment of a sustainable VOPE in Nigeria.

Evaluation Capacity Development: Barriers and Challenges in