Products and Activities

OPEV’s evaluation activities and products fall under four main groups:

• Project and programme evaluations
• Sector reviews, policy reviews, and thematic evaluations
• Knowledge management and dissemination
• Evaluation capacity development and training

Project and Programme Evaluations

• Project Completion Report Evaluation Notes: independent assessments of the quality of Public Sector Project Completion Reports prepared by AfDB Operations Complexes, and validation and adjustment of their performance ratings.
• Expanded Supervision Report Evaluation Notes: independent assessments of the quality of Expanded Supervision Reports prepared by the AfDB Private Sector Department, and validation and adjustment of their performance ratings.
• Project Performance Evaluation Reports: assessments of project/programme relevance, efficacy, efficiency, sustainability and institutional development impact, as well as of Bank and borrower performance.

Sector Reviews, Policy Reviews, and Thematic Evaluations

• Sectoral Evaluations:  assessments of the development effectiveness of the Bank’s assistance to a specific sector in one or more Regional Member Countries, and of the Bank’s efficiency and effectiveness of delivery, including Bank and borrower performance
• Thematic Evaluations:  reviews of the relevance and effectiveness of Bank policies, strategies, and operations in support of a thematic area within a sector (or across sectors) and across Regional Member Countries.
• Country Assistance Evaluations: assessments of the development outcome of the Bank’s assistance programmes in a specific Regional Member Country, as well as of the Bank’s performance, over a 10-year period.  
• Business Process Reviews: assess the quality and usefulness of the Bank’s operational business processes, and procedures. A recent example is the “Evaluation of the Decentralization Strategy and Process at the African Development Bank”. 
• Corporate Evaluations: comprehensive assessments of corporate performance. For example, “Stepping up to the Future: An Independent Evaluation of the African Development Fund VII, VIII, and IX”
• Joint Evaluations: evaluations  undertaken jointl with partner institutions. Recent examples include the “Joint Evaluation of Agriculture and Rural Development Policies and Operations” [please link t o document – already on website] of the African Development Bank and International Fund for Agriculture and Development

Knowledge Management and Dissemination  

Evaluation lessons and recommendations are only useful if they are acted upon. Effective communication of evaluation results is therefore important, both within and outside the Bank. OPEV disseminates its evaluation knowledge in a number of ways, including:

• OPEV Evaluation Reports: Upon completion of each evaluation, OPEV prepares evaluation reports containing its findings and recommendations. After presentation to the Bank’s Committee on Operations and Development Effectiveness (CODE), OPEV posts these evaluation reports and their summaries on its intranet and internet sites, and is expanding its dissemination activities to include publishing evaluation results summaries, as well as holding evaluation feedback seminars. OPEV recognizes the importance of systematically monitoring the uptake of lessons and recommendations arising from its evaluations. A system for tracking this is under development.
• Evaluation Briefs: OPEV produces Evaluation Briefs. These are short summaries presenting the key findings, conclusions and recommendations from each evaluation.
• OPEV Sharing: OPEV publishes a quarterly newsletter, OPEV Sharing, which showcases major OPEV evaluations and brings readers news about OPEV activities, including upcoming evaluation reports.
• OPEV Conference Paper Series: OPEV frequently contributes to conferences and seminars on development and evaluation. The OPEV Conference Paper Series is intended to make such papers available to a wider audience.
• Annual Review of Evaluation Results: OPEV also produces an “Annual Review of Evaluation Results” (ARER) that synthesizes the evaluation work of the department for the preceding year. 

Evaluation Capacity Development

OPEV recognizes the importance of evaluation capacity development (ECD) and training for building evaluation skills and knowledge in RMCs. OPEV strongly supports ECD. OPEV has supported attendance of African evaluators at suitable training events and professional meetings and supports ECD activities in Africa.

Since the end of the 1980s, OPEV has partnered with others to help strengthen—through a variety of advocacy and knowledge-sharing activities— the capacities of regional member countries to develop and implement evaluation systems and processes.  Such capacity development is increasingly important as countries and donors seek to align external aid support with nationally owned strategies and programs.

International Collaboration

OPEV is an active member of the Evaluation Cooperation Group (ECG), which comprises the evaluation departments of other multilateral development banks (MDBs). The ECG provides a forum for sharing evaluation experiences and methods, coordinating activities, and developing good practice standards and guidance. OPEV also coordinates evaluation activities with a range of international development agencies through the evaluation network of the OECD’s Development Assistance Committee (DAC).