Policy-makers are experimenting with billion’s of people’s lives on a daily basis without informed consent, and without rigorous evidence that what they do works, has no substantive adverse effects, and could not be achieved more efficiently through other means. In this context, carefully designed and implemented evaluations have the potential to save lives and improve people’s welfare. However, to date evaluations have tended to be selected based on the availability of data, the interest of researchers and donors, and the availability of funds rather than on their potential contribution to broader development strategies. For this reason, the institutionalization of quality evaluation is necessary in order to turn it into an optimal tool for policy-making. This report looks at the experiences of institutionalizing government evaluation efforts and considers the lessons learnt for countries starting down that road.

This report compares experiences of institutionalizing government evaluation efforts through a discussion of the three leading models in Latin America – Mexico, Colombia and Chile - the non-centralized system of monitoring and evaluation adopted in South Africa, and the policylearning approach taken in China. Some developed country and international experiences are also
briefly presented.

• The case of Mexico: the National Council for the Evaluation of Social Policy, CONEVAL

• The case of Colombia: the National System for Evaluation and Management for Results, SINERGIA
• The case of Chile: the Management Control Division at DIPRES
• The Case of South Africa: the Government-Wide Monitoring and Evaluation System
• The case of China: the state of current evaluation efforts

Information Provided by Carol Lombard, Department of Social Development Population Website