CIDA Learns: Lessons from Evaluations

Lessons drawn from evaluations can improve un-derstanding of what constitutes good development, and what works and what does not, for both CIDA staff and partners who design and implement inter-national development projects. Incorporating these lessons into our operations will also give Canadian taxpayers better value for their tax dollars.

This first report presents a set of key lessons dis-tilled from a sample of evaluation reports completed in 2011–2012 organized according to themes that emerged from our review. Setting a one-year re-view time frame ensures our information is new and allows us to provide timely feedback to CIDA.

For this report, we reviewed 19 evaluations (each summarized in the annex) covering a broad range of CIDA programs and projects: 12 covering Geo-graphic Programs Branch, 4 covering Multilateral and Global Programs Branch, 2 covering Partner-ships with Canadians Branch, and the Agency-wide Review of Evidence of the Effectiveness of CIDA’s Grants and Contributions. We analyzed the evalua-tions to identify lessons, and further analyzed the lessons to identify the most relevant factors for CIDA. Focus group discussions helped pinpoint relevant issues.