United Nations Industrial Development Organization
United Nations Industrial Development Organization
The United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) was established in 1966 as an autonomous body within the United Nations. As a specialized agency of the United Nations with its headquarters in Vienna, Austria, that promotes industrial development for poverty reduction, inclusive globalization and environmental sustainability, the mandate of UNIDO is to promote and accelerate inclusive and sustainable industrial development (ISID) in developing countries and economies in transition.
UNIDO's vision is a world where economic development is inclusive and sustainable and economic progress is equitable. The Organization focuses on three main thematic areas:
- Poverty reduction through productive activities
- Trade capacity-building
- Energy and environment
The Organization is recognized as a specialized and efficient provider of key services meeting the interlinked challenges of reducing poverty through productive activities, integrating developing countries in global trade through trade capacity-building, fostering environmental sustainability in industry, and improving access to clean energy.
In carrying out the core requirements of its mandate and mission, UNIDO has more than doubled its technical cooperation delivery over the past ten years. At the same time, it has also substantially increased its mobilization of financial resources, testifying to the growing international recognition of the Organization as an effective provider of ISID services.
UNIDO website: www.unido.org
https://www.unido.org/resources/evaluation-and-internal-oversight/Evaluation Function
The Office of Evaluation and Internal Oversight (EIO) is responsible for providing the Director General, and management at large, with independent, objective assurance, advice and evaluation designed to add value to and improve the efficiency and effectiveness of UNIDO’s operations, internal control framework, risk management, RBM and governance processes. It provides evidence-based information that is credible, reliable and useful, enabling the timely incorporation of findings, recommendations and lessons learned into the decision-making processes at organization-wide, programme and project level. The Office also assesses that UNIDO’s programmes and projects as well as thematic areas correctly address the stated objectives of the Organization, especially the implementation of the corporate strategy of ISID through PCPs.
The functions of the Office are guided by the EIO Charter and the Evaluation Policy.
The UNIDO Independent Evaluation Unit (EIO/IEU) under the Office of Evaluation and Internal Oversight (EIO) is responsible for conducting independent evaluations of UNIDO's major projects, programmes and technical cooperation activities. It also supports project managers and team leaders in conducting self-evaluations through design of methods. The UNIDO Evaluation Policy was adopted in 2006 and revised in 2015, 2018, and in 2021.
UNIDO has a systematic process for the management and the conduct of evaluations and undertakes an average of 20 evaluations per annum. These evaluations are a mix of independent thematic, country and project evaluations. EIO/IED's work has increased over the last decade, from only a few evaluations conducted in the early 2000s.
The evaluation expenditure in corporate and strategic evaluations has been ~USD 300,000 per annum. This figure does not include evaluations undertaken by donors of UNIDO projects, project evaluations financed by the respective projects nor UNIDO staff. For the evaluation function, there are the Director EIO, the Chief EIO/IEU, three professional and one general service staff in EIO/IEU. Evaluations are undertaken independently by EIO/IEU and there is a dedicated evaluation page on the UNIDO website where the evaluation policy, work programme and evaluation reports are posted.
EIO/IEU focuses on managing and conducting evaluations and on the design and implementation of evaluation-related training and quality assurance of evaluation reports.
Promoting a culture of evaluation in-house
In line with the evaluation policy, EIO/IEU is UNIDO's focal point for evaluation know-how. EIO/IEU, in collaboration with the UNIDO Human Resources Services, develops and conducts training for the staff within the Organization and for external stakeholders including staff of counterpart ministries.
The UNIDO Office of Evaluation and Internal Oversight, and its Independent Evaluation Unit on the internet: https://www.unido.org/resources/evaluation-and-internal-oversight/
Snapshot
- Charter of the Office of Evaluation and Internal Oversight
- Evaluation Policy
- Evaluation Manual
- Priorities
- Contributing to accountability and organizational learning within UNIDO and among external stakeholders
- Ensuring that evaluation findings and recommendations feed into ongoing and future projects, and contribute to strategy and policy development.
- The UNIDO Evaluation function adheres to UNEG Norms and Standards, in particular independence, credibility and utility; and is kept abreast of the latest thinking and approaches in the evaluation area.
- Human Resources
- Director, Office of Evaluation and Internal Oversight: 1 (M)
- Chief, Independent Evaluation Unit: 1 (M)
- Evaluation Officers: 1 (F)
- Evaluation consultants: 2 (1/F, 1/M)
- Senior Evaluation Assistant: 1 (F)
- Evaluations produced per year by central unit and by decentralized units
- 20-30 evaluations per year (average)
- Key resource:
Independence
EIO/IEU is located in the Office of Evaluation and Internal Oversight (EIO) that reports to the Director General.
The Director, EIO, in coordination with the Chief , EIO/IEU, manages the evaluation budget and has the authority to clear and issue evaluation reports. Resources are allocated to EIO to implement the evaluation work programme.
Agenda Setting & Evaluation Planning
EIO prepares a biennial evaluation work programme and budget which provides the framework for evaluation activities. The evaluation work programme and budget is approved by the UNIDO Leadership Meeting. Line managers, project managers and team leaders are also involved in the process. The work programme and budget is available online and covers the timing of evaluations, priority areas and the needed resources.
Stakeholder involvement and national evaluation capacity development
The UNIDO evaluation policy refers specifically to involving stakeholders throughout the evaluation process. Professionals from countries and regions subject to evaluation are included as part of the evaluation team and evaluation teams are gender balanced.
Quality Assurance
In line with the evaluation policy, EIO/IEU maintains an internal quality assurance system of its workflow and reports, and a reference framework. EIO/IEU has developed a quality tool which identifies processes and products of key importance to the quality of EIO/IEU work and, more importantly, defines the rules for quality assurance of evaluation reports. With regard to the latter, and on the basis of the UNEG Quality Checklist for Evaluation Reports, EIO/IEU has developed a checklist that is used for quality assurance of its evaluation reports.
Use of Evaluation
UNIDO management responds to recommendations from evaluations through a Management Response Sheet (MRS). The evaluation report and the MRS are disseminated by the Director, EIO and/or the Chief of EIO/IEU. Line managers are responsible for follow-up. UNIDO management and evaluated entities follow-up systematically on the implementation of evaluation recommendations. EIO/IEU monitors the acceptance and implementation of recommendations and reports annually to UNIDO management.
Evaluation results and findings are disseminated both internally and externally. Lessons learned from evaluations are extracted systematically and results are communicated during senior management meetings and meetings with operational management. EIO also organizes briefings for Member States representatives on evaluation findings and recommendations. An evaluation repository is available online with reports categorized by type of evaluation.
Joint Evaluation
For projects that have been implemented jointly, the practice is to conduct a joint evaluation. The evaluation policy refers specifically to the importance of joint evaluations as a means of assessing the effectiveness of the UN system at the country level.