United Nations Economic Commission for Europe

Evaluation Function

The evaluation function aims to strengthen the accountability of UNECE to its stakeholders, notably member States and donors, while ensuring that lessons learned feed into the planning of future programme activities. Being part of the UN Secretariat, UNECE is guided by the rules and regulations of the UN General Assembly for programme planning, monitoring and evaluation.

The UNECE Evaluation Policy was approved by UNECE Executive Committee on 16 December 2021, completing the administrative instruction for evaluation in the United Nations Secretariat (ST/AI/2021/3). UNECE Evaluation Policy provides the overall framework for evaluation in UNECE including the organizational policy and procedures. 

UNECE is a member of the United Nations Evaluation Group and is committed to the guiding principles of the Norms and Standards for Evaluation in the United Nations System.   

Under this policy, UNECE is subject to two types of evaluations: internal evaluations (self-evaluations) of programme, subprogramme and projects performance), and external evaluations (conducted by independent oversight bodies such as OIOS and JIU).

As of 2017, UNECE also reports on the key results of evaluations annually to the Executive Committee. The report summarizes key evaluations, plans and recommendations for future action. Annual Evaluation Reports are posted in Open UNECE website. 

Evaluating as One - Working Together in the UN System

UNECE actively participates in the work of the UNEG, and coordinates with the other Regional Commissions through the Chiefs of Programme Planning, and the Regional Commissions Monitoring and the Evaluation Focal Point Network. Moreover, UNECE collaborates with Regional Commissions and other UN entities on evaluations of joint activities. UNECE also engages with the JIU and OIOS on a regular basis

Snapshot

Institutional Set-Up

The Evaluation function is located within the Programme Management Unit (PMU).

Staff (as of 1 August 2023)

Director, Programme Management & Support Services Division, D-1

Chief, Programme Management Unit, P-5

Management and Programme Analyst, P-4

Evaluators: 0

Evaluations conducted or commissioned by the unit in 2022

A total of eight evaluations (programme-level, subprogramme and end-of-project) were delivered in 2022: three subprogramme-level evaluations and five evaluations of extrabudgetary or UN Development Account projects at the end of their cycle.  

https://unece.org/evaluation-reports

Evaluation Expenditure in 2022, excluding staff costs

US$123,400 

Priorities

1. Improve programme performance
2. Promote organisational learning
3. Support accountability

Independence

The evaluation is carried out by the Programme Management Unit (PMU) under the guidance of its Chief and the overall supervision of the Director of the Programme Management and Support Services Division (PMSSD), designated Evaluation Head, reporting directly to the Executive Secretary of UNECE. The role of the PMU is to ensure overall coordination of all aspects of programme management: planning, monitoring, reporting and evaluation. The PMU is separate from other management functions to ensure, to the extent possible, independence and full discretion in the management of evaluations and selection of evaluators.

Agenda Setting & Evaluation Planning

The 2024 evaluation plan was approved by UNECE EXCOM. UNECE evaluation plans are available at https://unece.org/evaluation-plans.

As part of the annual planning and budget process, UNECE prepares an Annual Evaluation Plan based on the annual risk register and relevant themes. 

The theme for the programme level internal evaluation is selected by the Executive Secretary and approved by the Executive Committee. The themes for internal evaluations at the subprogramme level are selected by Divisions in consultation with Sectoral Committees. Each UNECE subprogramme should be evaluated every six years. The Annual Evaluation Plan is approved by the Executive Committee in December each year, alongside with the review of the Proposed programme budget. A Tentative Schedule of UNDA and extrabudgetary projects for internal evaluation is also included in the Annual Evaluation report submitted to the Executive Committee.

Quality Assurance

The quality of evaluation reports is ensured by the establishment of guidelines, checklists, and standardized templates. These cover preparation of evidence-based evaluation reports, findings and recommendations, methodology, executive summaries, and follow up action plans.

Use of Evaluation

As a follow up to evaluations, the Secretariat prepares a management response.  There is systematic follow-up by management and the evaluation entities of the implementation of the recommendations.

UNECE's input to the Secretary-General's Programme Performance Report is publicly available. UNECE is systematically extracting lessons from evaluations and communicating them through workshops and meetings with UNECE's senior management. 

All UNECE evaluation reports, management responses and progress reports published after 1 October 2014 are posted in Open UNECE website: https://unece.org/evaluation-reports

Joint Evaluation

UNECE actively participates in the work of the UNEG, and coordinates with the other Regional Commissions through the Chiefs of Programme Planning, and the Regional Commissions Monitoring and the Evaluation Focal Point Network. Moreover, UNECE collaborates with Regional Commissions and other UN entities on evaluations of joint activities. UNECE also engages with the JIU and OIOS on a regular basis.