Partnering for Progress: Evidence generation to inform German Development Cooperation
Christoph Erichsen recently had the opportunity to work with the World Food Programme’s Office of Evaluation, as part of the Development Cooperation Trainee Programme with the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). He shares his experiences on how German development cooperation actors can partner with WFP to strengthen evidence generation through impact evaluations.
Actors in international development cooperation increasingly recognize that impact evaluations provide an opportunity to increase effectiveness by identifying what works and what does not through uncovering causal relationships.
In recent years, Germany has increasingly funded impact evaluations through research institutions and multilateral organizations like the United Nations. For example, Germany is funding impact evaluations as part of the Resilience in the Sahel programme — a joint collaboration between WFP, UNICEF and the German development agency GIZ. Impact evaluations have also been commissioned within German development cooperation in recent years, although at a low level.
In 2021 the German Institute for Development Evaluation (DEval) published a report, analyzing the extent to which German development cooperation generates new evidence with the help of impact evaluations, and whether existing evidence is being used.
DEval, mandated by BMZ to ensure that German development cooperation is more effective and that decisions are evidence-based, states that even though there seems to be momentum for evidence generation, “there is clear potential for more rigorous impact evaluations […] and a greater take-up of evidence” (DEval, 2021). Subsequently, in its latest Evaluation Policy, BMZ also emphasizes the need for a “systematic expansion of rigorous impact evaluations [to] provide particularly robust evidence of the effects of interventions” (BMZ, 2023).
By addressing three key challenges identified by DEval’s report, this blog describes how WFP’s Impact Evaluation Unit can partner with German development actors to foster evidence generation and evidence-based decisions.
1. Capacity building
Although German development cooperation actors strongly believe that using evidence helps make German development cooperation more effective, and would like to use evidence more, there is still relatively limited knowledge about existing impact evaluations and their benefits compared to other evaluation methods (DEval, 2021).
DEval therefore recommends more awareness raising and capacity building through, for example, technical training. Furthermore, DEval emphasizes the role of communicating to senior officials and management, the importance of impact evaluations and the risks of not conducting them.
WFP is convinced that increased capacity building is indeed a core element for more evidence generation. This is why, since 2019, the impact evaluation unit has been active in providing training to WFP country offices and partners. For example, the impact evaluation team conducted a workshop on impact evaluation evidence and use in the context of the presentation of study results at KfW in Frankfurt in February 2024.
In April 2024, the impact evaluation unit joined the Humanitarian Assistance Evidence Cycle (HAEC) in Bogota, Colombia, to deliver training to 50 participants from the Latin America and Caribbean region, including six WFP country offices, on the use of impact evaluations in humanitarian interventions. In addition to technical knowledge, these training sessions also serve to promote a culture of evidence and learning.
2. Operational relevance of impact evaluation
The DEval report calls for the results of impact evaluations to have operational, strategic, and political relevance for development cooperation.
A good example is the aforementioned impact evaluations in the Sahel region conducted within the Climate & Resilience impact evaluation window.
These impact evaluations research the effects of WFP’s resilience programmes within the framework of “transitional development assistance” — Germany’s instrument to help strengthen the resilience of people and local structures to enable them to handle future crises independently of humanitarian aid.
WFP’s dual mandate for its work in both humanitarian aid and development cooperation makes the organization particularly well suited to bridge the gap between the two, harmonizing well with Germany’s approach of transitional development assistance.
With the financial support of BMZ and in collaboration with the World Bank’s Development Impact Evaluation (DIME) department, WFP is using a multi-country approach to investigate how resilience programmes help households adapt to, respond to and recover from external shocks.
Since the Sahel is a priority region for German development cooperation, the results of the impact evaluation, can lead to operational improvement in interventions, and have strategic and political relevance for Germany’s development goals. German development cooperation has the strategic opportunity to demonstrate the impact of its interventions through impact evaluations, and thereby making itself more attractive as a partner.
3. Community of Practice
According to the DEval report, a challenge for generating new impact evaluations is the lack of opportunities to share experiences. An “additional exchange platform for exchange between policymakers, development practitioners and researchers and evaluators [is needed] to make sure that evidence creation is oriented towards actual demands” (DEval, 2021). Similarly, BMZ states in their evaluation policy that more information sharing should take place (BMZ, 2023).
The impact evaluation unit believes that due to the scientific language of impact evaluations, exchange between researchers and practitioners is crucial. Exchange is the only way to ensure a common language, work on relevant issues and ensure results are taken up.
To facilitate this exchange, WFP launched the first iteration of the Impact Evaluation Forum in 2023, bringing together governments, donors, UN agencies, NGOs and the scientific community. At the four-day event, experts and interested parties exchanged ideas on implementation fields and presented concrete results of the impact of development and humanitarian assistance on people’s lives. Notable German attendees included Jochen Kluve, Director of Evaluation at KfW Development Bank, and Tilman Brück, Director of ISDC, who provided a donor perspective on impact evaluation, and the use of data in humanitarian contexts. Due to the positive experience and the need for further exchange, UNICEF will co-host the next Impact Evaluation Forum again in cooperation with WFP at the end of 2024.
Additionally, WFP participates in conferences like the annual Humanitarian Networks and Partnerships Weeks (HNPW) organized by UN OCHA, where challenges and best practices are discussed, including for example, the potential of randomized control trials in humanitarian contexts.
The road ahead
Climate change and conflicts around the world are driving higher demand for humanitarian assistance. At the same time, funding is decreasing. Thus, development and humanitarian actors must do better with less, increasing their cost-effectiveness. More robust evidence is needed to know what works, what does not, and to direct funding decisions.
To generate this rigorous evidence, WFP and other UN agencies and programmes are increasingly boosting their capacity to conduct impact evaluations. WFP and other UN agencies — such as UNICEF and FAO — should continue these efforts to produce and disseminate rigorous evidence.
Working together, German development cooperation and UN agencies can overcome the shortcomings identified by DEval, and jointly pave the way towards a sustainable and prosperous future for all.
WFP’s impact evaluation unit is responsible for conducting rigorous impact evaluations. Starting in 2019, the unit initially focused on three thematic priorities (or ‘windows’): Cash-based-transfers and gender, School-based programmes, and Climate & Resilience. Additionally, a cross-cutting workstream on Optimizing Humanitarian Interventions aims to generate evidence to inform how humanitarian interventions can be most impactful. This work is supported by BMZ, GAFSP, Norad, KOICA, USAID’s Bureau of Humanitarian Assistance (BHA), the World Bank, and many other development partners.
