Evaluation of the FAO Technical Cooperation Programme

At its 127th session, the Programme Committee asked the Office of Evaluation (OED) to conduct a comprehensive assessment of FAO’s TCP to evaluate its relevance, effectiveness and efficiency, fund allocation and distribution, governance and management, in addition to strategic and programmatic aspects. OED undertook the evaluation between March and September 2020 with a view to presenting it to the Programme Committee in November 2020.

The evaluation is primarily aimed at FAO Senior Management and Members. Core users are the Technical Cooperation Unit of the Partnerships and Outreach stream, decentralized FAO offices, technical divisions, partners and external stakeholders.

The evaluation assesses TCP activities at global, regional and national level, including development and emergency TCPs, Technical Cooperation Programme Facility (TCPF) projects and inter-regional TCPs. It covers the period from 2012–13 to 2018–19.

The key questions addressed by the evaluation are:

To what extent are TCP projects strategic and/or programmatic, and how relevant and effective are TCPs in meeting country/regional needs?

How effective are fund allocation and distribution to countries? What criteria are used?

At country level, how do TCP project governance and management contribute to operational efficiency and effectiveness?

How instrumental have TCP projects been in achieving catalytic effects and to what extent have they had a sustainable impact?

What are the factors enabling and/or hindering TCP success in terms of catalytic effect and sustainable impact?

What are the best practices and lessons learned from TCP projects?