WE Brown Bag - In-depth International Comparison of Fourteen Donor Agencies: How Do They Systematically Judge the Value of Their Aid?

Washington Evaluators Brown Bag

Wednesday, February 8, 2012 -- 12 noon to 1:30pm

Marvin Center, 800 21st Street, Room 403, N.W. Washington, DC 20052

The George Washington University

Dr. Ryo SASAKI

with Masaharu SHIMIZU

In-depth International Comparison of Fourteen Donor Agencies: How Do They Systematically Judge the Value of Their Aid?

Abstract

This session presents an in-depth international comparative study of systems and procedures of aid evaluation, focusing on policy/program level evaluation among major donor agencies. The examined donors (a total of fourteen) include: Japan (Foreign Ministry, JICA), Germany (BMZ, GTZ, KfW), U.K. (DFID), U.S. (USAID), Canada (CIDA), France (Foreign Ministry, AFD), the Netherlands (IOB), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), World Bank (WB), Inter-American Development Bank (IADB), and Asian Development Bank (AsDB). The client of this study is the Foreign Ministry of Japan. This study presents the result of comparative analysis among those donor agencies in terms of the following viewpoints: (1) evaluation criteria employed; (2) evaluation approach of effectiveness/impact; (3) contribution and attribution issue; (4) use of rating system; (5) overall evaluative conclusion and synthesis methods; and (6) organizational arrangement of evaluation department and unit. One conclusion is that most agencies have struggled with how to judge the degree and value of their aid.

Bios of Presenters

Dr. Ryo SASAKI is a senior researcher, International Development Center of Japan (IDCJ). He also serves as an adjunct professor at Saint Paul’s (Rikkyo) University and Osaka University, Japan. He received an M.P.A. from New York University and Ph.D. in Evaluation from Western Michigan University. He is a board member of the Japan Evaluation Society (JES) and has managed the Certified Professional Evaluators (C.P.E.) Training Program in Japan since its establishment. He currently serves as team leader for the JICA’s long-term technical cooperative project titled “Project for Strengthening Monitoring and Evaluation System Phase II (SMES2) in Nepal”. He is an author of “Evaluation Theories and Techniques” (2001, 2004), “Evaluation Training Book” (2003), and “The Basic Logic of Evaluation” (2010).  All are written in Japanese and “Evaluation Theories and Techniques” is a best seller in Japan in the field of evaluation.

Nearest Metro Station:   Foggy Bottom (orange and blue lines)

Please RSVP to Brian Yoder at brianlyoder@gmail.com before February 6, 2012