It is my pleasure to present a new issue of the Newsletter of the Independent Evaluation Office (IEO) of the Global Environment Facility. We have started preparations for the Sixth Comprehensive Evaluation of the GEF (OPS6). Our goal is to make evaluative evidence available in time for the seventh replenishment of the GEF. The approach paper of the Sixth Comprehensive Evaluation will be presented to the GEF Council in June this year.

OPS6 will draw on data from different evaluations and studies that have been completed or are now underway. During the upcoming June Council meeting, we will present results of recently completed evaluations, including the GEF CSO Network Evaluation, the first phase of the Evaluation of the Expansion of the GEF Partnership, Annual Performance Report, Tajikistan Country Portfolio Evaluation, Morocco Country Portfolio Evaluation, Evaluation of the Least Developed Countries Fund (LDCF), and the LDCF/SCCF Annual Evaluation Report. Several other evaluations that will inform OPS6 are also underway: Evaluation of Programmatic Approaches in the GEF, Evaluation of Multiple Benefits of the GEF Support, a study on GEF and the Private Sector, and the GEF Focal Area Studies. To implement the evaluation program, IEO has recently completed a round of recruitments.

In this issue, we are happy to share news on recent training events for regional and country stakeholders and other IEO dissemination events, as well as recent staff publications that focus on methodologies and the use of evaluation findings.

Happy reading!

GEF IEO has developed a new monitoring and evaluation training module for the GEF country focal points, national focal points from the main international environmental conventions, representatives of GEF Agencies and civil society organizations who attend the Expanded Constituency Workshops (ECWs). An innovative focus of this training is on the theory of change and on the importance of tracking assumptions about the context to ensure that outcomes lead to impacts beyond the project timeframe. A case study based on a real GEF project provides a hands-on experience in thinking in terms of theories of change. Participant experience with design and implementation of M&E plans and with terminal evaluations facilitates feedback and provides a useful platform for peer-to-peer learning. In February and March this new module was delivered in the ECWs for the GEF regional constituencies in Botswana, Trinidad and Tobago, Montenegro, and Thailand.

As member of the United Nations Evaluation Group (UNEG), GEF IEO contributed to the UNEG Study on Evaluation Use and is leading a series of webinar discussions as a follow-up to the study. The discussions engage evaluators and users from the GEF Agencies, the UN system, and multilateral organizations into a dialogue on factors supporting and hindering evaluation use. As part of the series, on April 5, 2016 GEF IEO hosted a webinar on What Makes a Meaningful Stakeholder Engagement in Evaluation. GEF IEO staff members and representatives of the GEF Agencies shared practical experience in involving stakeholders and beneficiaries while keeping evaluation independent. The webinar was moderated by Juha Uitto, Director of the GEF Independent Evaluation Office (IEO). The special guests included Carlo Carugi, Senior Evaluation Officer at GEF IEO, Nancy Bennet, UNDP-GEF Results Management and Evaluation Adviser, and Anis Dani, independent development effectiveness expert. Kseniya Temnenko (Knowledge Officer, GEF IEO) contributed to the UNEG study and organized the webinar.

Recording of GEF webinar on stakeholder engagement

Recordings of UNEG webinar series on evaluation use

Data scarcity or unreliability and complexities of comparing and cross-checking information from diverse domains are among the most common challenges evaluators face. The paper by Carlo Carugi, published in the Evaluation and Program Planning journal (Volume 55, April 2016), presents systematic triangulation as a viable option to address such limitations. Download Report.

Global environmental resources are public goods that are non-excludable and non-rivalrous across borders. Global environmental challenges, such as biodiversity conservation or climate change mitigation, fall directly in this category. The article by Juha Uitto, published by Evaluation [2016, Vol. 22(I)] focuses on the specific dimensions of evaluating the provision of global public goods in light of experiences from the Global Environment Facility. Download Report.