Revision and improvement of the OECD DAC evaluation criteria

As a way to assess various development interventions in a coherent and structured manner, the process of evaluation typically includes a selection of the evaluation criteria. Evaluation criteria can thus be seen as “lenses” through which evaluation analysis is focused on different, but interconnected aspects. Probably the most commonly used criteria in the evaluation community were developed by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Development Assistance Committee (DAC). In 1991, DAC published the Principles for Evaluation of Development Assistance, introducing a set of 5 evaluation criteria to be used in order to successfully assess various developmental interventions. They developed criteria of relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, impact and sustainability, each to be used to assess a different aspect of the evaluated object.

As the results of the consultation process after the 25 years long application of the criteria show, the DAC criteria successfully set an international and widely used evaluation standards, thus strongly contributing to the standardization and uniformity of the evaluation profession and its practices in a wide area of international development, humanitarian intervention and public policies. After two and a half decades of international use of the DAC criteria, OECD revised the criteria and their implication aiming to improve their use and impact. These revisions are based on two aspects. First, a continuous and widespread use of the criteria by various actors enabled a detailed collection of experiences and feedbacks from the evaluation community. The reflections indicated a need for a further clarification of the criteria that would improve their precision and focus. More on the very interesting reflections collected during the consultation process with independent consultants, international NGOs, private companies, central government, academic and research institutions can be found here. Second, the new 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Paris Agreement introduced a need to modify the criteria to better fit their evaluation and developing practices.

Consequently, the DAC Network on Development Evaluation (EvalNet) carried out the criteria adaptation in 2018-2019. The revision introduced several main changes aiming at improving the criteria through further clarification of concepts, better guidelines for their use, and their applicability to a wider set of interventions. Specifically, the revision includes 4 main changes improving the criteria clarity followed by changes supporting the consistent use of the criteria:

1)     New and improved definitions of the original five criteria;

2)     Retaining conceptual clarity and simplifying the definitions;

3)     Better responding to equity, gender equality and the leave no one behind imperative;

4)     Introducing the whole new criterion of coherence to improve the assessment of synergies, linkages, partnership dynamics, systems thinking and complexity of the intervention.

Furthermore, consistency of the use of the criteria is facilitated through further forthcoming guidance on the intention and principles of the criteria, their applicability to different contexts, as well as through a promotion of an interconnected approach to the criteria recognizing their synergies and trade-offs.

The revision of the criteria introduced several promising changes to the evaluation practice potentially contributing to quality of the evaluations across the boards. However, now it is left to the evaluation professionals to test these changes in practice and confirm their potential. A detailed explanation of each of the 6 criteria can be found on the official OECD website and a more detailed elaborations on the context and aspects of the revision can be found in OECD’s Better Criteria for Better Evaluation: Revised Evaluation Criteria Definitions and Principles for Use.