Mapping Decentralized Evaluation Functions Across UN Agencies

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UNEG Reference Document 2025

Mapping Decentralized Evaluation Functions Across UN Agencies

Working Group

Overview

As part of its 2024 work plan, the UNEG Decentralized Evaluation Function Working Group (DEWG) planned to update the mapping of key features of decentralized evaluation (DE) functions across the UN system. This report builds on the first edition conducted in 2020 aiming to facilitate learning, share experiences across UN entities, and potentially support future work by UNEG on DE.

The present report includes 12 expanded case studies, covering 12 UN entities. These are structured along six dimensions of DE, ensuring consistency and comparability across agencies. The case studies were developed by collecting and analyzing data from multiple lines of evidence, including 19 individual and group interviews with 37 UN evaluation professionals at headquarters (HQ), regional, and country levels across the participating organizations. Additional lines of evidence include a questionnaire-based selfassessment conducted by UN entities in 2023, and an extensive document review covering the evaluation function’s policy frameworks, peer reviews, guidance, manuals and tools, as well as grey literature.

A full list of interviewees is provided in Annex 1. To facilitate comparability and utility, the report is structured by organization according to a standardized framework, addressing the architecture and enabling environment for decentralized evaluation; responsibilities (management, planning and resources); approach to and mechanisms for quality control; means of ensuring impartiality and transparency; addressing professional standards and capacity and use and follow-up (including management response).

This document is complimented by a separate synthesis paper of key features of decentralized evaluation functions in UN system organizations, drawing primarily from the evidence presented herein.