The Evaluation Framework has been a key document for over a decade, supporting the implementation of the evaluation function in the Fund and guiding its evaluation practice. The review and revision of the Fund’s Evaluation Framework and associated tools and guideline documents is as such a core work element of the FY21-FY23 strategy and work programme of the AF-TERG.
Evaluation Policy of the Adaptation Fund
The Draft Evaluation Policy of the Adaptation Fund was presented to the twenty-ninth Ethics and Finance Committee (EFC) meeting in March 2022. A recommendation by the EFC to the Board was taken over in Decision B.38/48. The new Evaluation Policy will enable the Fund’s evaluation function to contribute more effectively toward helping to foster the Fund’s mission, goal, and vision of helping developing countries build resilience and adapt to climate change.
The new policy will come into effect in October 2023 when it will replace the Evaluation Framework that was approved in 2011 and revised in 2012.
The main changes that the new Evaluation Policy brings include:
- Elevating the evaluation function to a policy level and connecting evaluation to the Fund’s strategies, policies, goal, mission, and niche;
- Adding evaluation principles and criteria that are linked to the Fund’s uniqueness and aimed at strengthening the Fund’s niche;
- Encouraging utilization of evaluation evidence and lessons, evaluation capacity development and adaptive management;
- Expanding types of evaluation, which now includes non-mandatory evaluations (real-time evaluations and ex post evaluations); and
- Suggesting evaluation function budget guidelines.
Click here to read the May 2022 press release related to the approval of the new Evaluation Policy.
Progress Update on the Development of the Adaptation Fund Evaluation Policy (EFC 28)
A progress update on the development of the Adaptation Fund Evaluation Policy (AFB/EFC.28/Inf.3) was presented to the twenty-eight EFC meeting in October 2021. This information document updated the Board on progress in developing the draft Evaluation Policy: a first draft has been completed but the AF-TERG concluded that the Evaluation Policy would benefit from broader consultations with internal and external Fund stakeholders. The AF-TERG will submit a draft Evaluation Policy for the EFC to consider and to make a recommendation to the Board at the March 2022 meeting.
The AF-TERG would welcome EFC feedback and guidance regarding the following questions:
(i) Is the broad direction of the new Evaluation Policy likely to meet expectations of the EFC and the Board in better serving the Fund’s niche and ambition?
(ii) Is the approach of introducing incremental shifts to current practices suitable for the Fund’s requirements, for instance by enabling the Fund’s entities to build capacities and adapt more easily to these changes?
The EFC took note, including the need for broader consultation of individual members of the Board, the EFC, the Project and Programme Review Committee and the Accreditation Panel.
Progress Update on the Review and Revision (EFC 27)
A progress update on the review and revision of the Evaluation Framework (AFB/EFC.27/.7) was presented to the twenty-seventh EFC meeting in March 2021. The purpose of this document was to update the Board on progress in the inception phase of the AF-TERG-led exercise to review and revise the Fund’s Evaluation Framework, and to discuss emergent findings. The conclusion from the inception phase was as follows:
- there have been many noteworthy Fund-level and external changes suggesting it is necessary to go beyond a simple updating of the Evaluation Framework’s current form.
- after reviewing different options for the types of instruments, the inception phase found that an evaluation policy instrument might be best suited to the evaluation function of the Fund. This approach remains consistent with evaluation instruments in use by similar climate funds and multilateral agencies.
A recommendation by the EFC to the Board was taken over in Decision B.36/32, requesting the AF-TERG in consultation with the Adaptation Fund Board Secretariat to prepare a draft evaluation policy for the Adaptation Fund that would replace the current evaluation framework. And to submit and present the draft evaluation policy to the EFC at its twenty-eighth meeting, for the Board’s consideration.
As part of an on-going consultation with key Adaptation Fund stakeholders, March 11, 2021, the AF-TERG facilitated its first virtual event with Implementing Entities. The discussion has generated important inputs for the work on the revision of the Fund Evaluation Framework.
Inception Report of the Review and Revision of the Evaluation Framework
During fiscal year 2020 (FY20) an initial gap analysis was carried out and a terms of reference for the review and revision of the Evaluation Framework was developed. The goal of this review and revision is to produce, a fit-for-purpose evaluation instrument for the Fund for discussion and subsequent approval by the Board.
The review and revision of the Evaluation Framework’s inception report provides the findings from the inception phase. During the inception phase, the team reviewed Board decisions and policies, strategies, and processes approved since the current evaluation framework was put in place. It also reviewed the evaluation profession landscape within and outside the climate change adaptation sector. The team will conduct further research during the next few months to further understand and bring to the Fund the current and latest discussions from the evaluation profession.
Initial research found the following issues or themes to be of importance to the direction of the review and development of the Fund’s instrument. These issues should inform the evaluation function and provide clarity in the relationship between the monitoring and learning functions.