Evaluation Series | Developing Terms of Reference for Reviews and Evaluations
NZAID reviews and evaluations
Reviews and evaluations1 commissioned by NZAID are normally undertaken with development partners, and where possible development partners will lead the development of TOR for reviews and evaluations, and the reviews and evaluations.
This guideline is relevant to any reviews and evaluations that NZAID is associated with.
There are various types and levels of reviews and evaluations that NZAID will be associated with. These include:
- policy, strategy, programme and Activity2 reviews and evaluations
- sectoral evaluations (such as education or health)
- thematic evaluations (such as human rights and gender)
- institutional evaluations and reviews of multilateral, regional and domestic organisations (such as UN organisations, NZ and international NGOs).
Reviews and Evaluations can occur at any stage in the life cycle of a development activity and take a variety of forms. The decision of whether, when and how to undertake a review or evaluation will be driven by the information required and how, when and by whom the findings will be used. The focus and scope will be influenced by the interests of the stakeholders in the activity.
There are common standards for developing Terms of Reference (TOR) for reviews and evaluations, which are described in this Guideline.
1 As noted in the NZAID Evaluation Policy Statement, an Evaluation is an assessment of outcomes and/or impact carried out after a project or programme has become fully operational, during the completion stage, or some time after the activity has been completed. A Review is review or evaluation taking place at key points during the lifetime of an activity to gain a better understanding of what is being achieved and to identify how implementation can be improved. Back
2 NZAID uses the term ‘activity’ (lower caser ‘a’) to refer to any instrument for partner (donor and non-donor) support aimed to promote development, including strategies, policies, programmes or Activities. The term Activity (capital ‘A’) includes projects and other aid modalities such as programmatic approaches and sector wide approaches. Back