High-level independent evaluation of ILO’s COVID-19 response (2020-22)

The independent high-level evaluation of the ILO’s response to the implications of COVID 19 (2020–22) focuses on two dimensions of the ILO’s response to the pandemic over the period from March 2020 to March 2022. First, it assesses how well the ILO adapted at an institutional level so that it could continue to deliver its mandate. Second, it measures how well the Organization refocused its policy work to meet the changing needs of the constituents during the crisis. The high-level evaluation draws on multiple triangulated data sources to provide an evidence-based narrative of the ILO’s response to the crisis in a setting of unprecedented turmoil and to draw overall conclusions on the ILO’s performance in line with the internationally accepted evaluation criteria. Mixed methods and multiple means of analysis were used, including: document review; 354 interviews with staff, constituents and other stakeholders in Geneva and in the regions, including with staff in all decent work technical support teams (DWTs) and at the ILO Office for the United Nations in New York, the International Training Centre of the ILO (Turin Centre) and the Inter-American Centre for Knowledge Development in Vocational Training (CINTERFOR);1 surveys among staff and the constituents; eight instrumental country case studies (Argentina, Indonesia, Iraq, Madagascar, Mexico, South Africa, Thailand and Viet Nam); six thematic case studies; and a three-phase synthesis review2 of 87 relevant project evaluations conducted in the period under review.