
Focelac+
The aim of the project Focelac+ (Fomento de una cultura de evaluación y de aprendizaje en América Latina con proyección global = Strengthening a Culture of Evaluation and Learning in Latin America with a Global Outlook) is for evaluations in selected countries (especially in Latin America) to make a greater contribution to accountability, transparency and learning. The project thus strengthens good governance, which is a prerequisite for the fulfilment of the 2030 Agenda.
The project partner is the Costa Rican Ministry of Planning, Mideplan. The long-standing advisory services and capacity building of its evaluation unit in the framework of the predecessor projects Foceval and Focelac has made it possible for Mideplan to engage as a multiplier for strengthening national evaluation capacities in the region.
In line with the project’s systemic approach, project implementation is based on the evaluation system as a whole – promoting the capacities of public, private and civil society stakeholders at individual and institutional level and strengthening an enabling environment for evaluation. In this regard, the project promotes not only the competencies of the various stakeholders involved in the evaluation system, but also the exchange and cooperation with one another.
To promote systemic change, Focelac+ works together with various international ECD stakeholders that join forces, for example, in the Global Evaluation Initiative (GEI). Cooperating with GEI provides the opportunity to establish a global ECD platform to work together on strengthening evaluation capacities in partner countries. Focelac+ continues to focus on Latin America, but will also be active in other countries in cooperation with GEI partners.
Project’s Lines of Work
- Promoting Evaluation Capacities in public institutions
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The public sector has a central role to play in the implementation of the Paris Climate Agreement and in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In this context, it is the responsibility of the public sector to establish appropriate institutions and mechanisms for monitoring and evaluating progress made and ensure their functionality. The project therefore works together with public sector institutions in this area in order to ensure their ability to perform with regard to their function of evaluating the achievement of the SDGs.
- Promoting inclusive evaluation processes
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The cooperation and inclusion of all population groups is an important prerequisite for the fulfilment of the 2030 Agenda and its guiding principle “leave no one behind”. Focelac+ strengthens inclusive evaluation approaches, enhancing evaluations with the complementary perspective of civil society and private actors and thus promoting the transparency and accountability function of evaluations. The project strengthens the capacities of private and civil society actors with regard to planning, managing, implementing and using evaluation. It advises state actors on inclusive evaluation and sensitises them towards the issue. In line with the principle of the 2030 Agenda to “leave no one behind”, gender-appropriate and inclusive evaluation approaches are highlighted in the capacity development of civil society, private sector and state actors.
- Promoting capacities for conducting high-quality evaluations in selected Latin American countries
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The 2030 Agenda and the Paris Climate Agreement, as well as the substantial changes in the global context as a result of COVID-19, place new demands on evaluations. Accordingly, there is a great need to expand the evaluation capacities of evaluation experts – including young emerging evaluators. In addition to the training of evaluators, Focelac+ focuses on networking evaluation experts, gaining practical evaluation knowledge, and developing and disseminating knowledge products.
- Promoting increased exchange between different stakeholders in the field of evaluation
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As a contribution to SDG 17 in the field of evaluation and to strengthening an enabling environment, the project networks relevant evaluation actors, encouraging them to share ideas and work together. Here, the project relies on the tried-and-tested method of the multi-actor platform, which established itself as a national evaluation platform in the context of the Foceval and Focelac projects in Costa Rica. It also intends to use this multi-actor method more intensively in cooperation with GEI for the purpose of identifying, discussing and coordinating joint scientific activities with project partners. Focelac+ uses a regional evaluation platform of its own for joint project planning and management.
Related Links and Publications
- EvalParticipativa (Community of Practice and Learning for Participatory Evaluation for Latin America and the Caribbean)
- Mideplan (Ministerio de Planificación Nacional y Política Económica) - Costa Rica
- GEI (Global Evaluation Initiative)
- ReLAC (Red de Seguimiento, Evaluación y Sistematización de América Latina y el Caribe)
- Evaluation of Evaluation Capacity Development at DEval - Carrying out an evaluation of the ECD work area at the German Institute for Development Evaluation
- Siembra y cosecha: Manual de evaluación participativa
- Leaving a Footprint. Stories of Evaluations that Made a Difference
Team
- Sarah Desiree Klier Evaluator - Team Leader ECD
- Nataly Salas-Rodríguez Coordinator of the regional office in Costa Rica
- Helena Stadtmüller Evaluator
- Carlos Murillo-Castro Projektadministrator
- Andrea Meneses Rojas Evaluator
- Ronald Mulyanti Kitanda Evaluator
- Dirk Hoffmann Evaluator
- Juan Carlos Sanz Evaluator
- Nuria Doménech Project Administration: Focelac+
- Dr Jutta Blauert Former Evaluator DEval
- Emanuel Blanca Moya Former Evaluator DEval
- María Carolina Sandoval Sequeira Former Project Administration: Focelac+
Contact
Sarah Desiree Klier
Phone: +49 (0)228 336907-943
E-mail: sarah.klier@DEval.org
Dr Sven Harten
Phone: +49 (0)228 336907-950
E-mail: sven.harten@DEval.org
Publications on ECD
- Country-Led Participatory Evaluation by Ecuador
- Policy Brief: Strengthening the Role of Partner Countries in Evaluating Development Cooperation: A Framework for Analysis
- Preguntas de evaluación clave (PEC) para orientar las evaluaciones de la huella ecológica (Footprint Evaluations)
- Todo sobre la Evaluación de la huella ecológica (Footprint Evaluations in Spanish)
- Policy Brief: El árbol de decisiones según geodatos: Utilizando datos geográficos para evaluaciones
- Informes nacionales voluntarios de los ODS en África Anglófona y América Latina: Mapeo de desafíos comunes y buenas prácticas emergentes (Versión 2023 en español, del reporte realizado en diciembre de 2022)
- VNRs and SDG Evaluations in Anglophone Africa and Latin America: A Mapping of Common Challenges and Emerging Good Practices (2022)
- Limited Use of Evaluative Evidence in Public Policy, Planning and Voluntary National Review (VNR) Development. Recommendations for Governments, Evaluation Communities and ECD Stakeholders (2023)
- Uso limitado de evidencia evaluativa en políticas públicas, planificación y desarrollo de informes nacionales voluntarios (INV): Recomendaciones para gobiernos, comunidades de evaluación y actores del desarrollo de capacidades en evaluación (ECD) (2023)
- Grounding Evaluation Capacity Development in Systems Theory
- Diretrizes de Avaliação para a América Latina e o Caribe (Edição 2021)
- Evaluation Standards for Latin America and the Caribbean (Edition 2021)
- Estándares de Evaluación para América Latina y el Caribe (Edición 2021)
- Siembra y cosecha: Manual de evaluación participativa
- Evaluación de la Cooperación Internacional No Reembolsable en Biodiversidad y Cambio Climático en Costa Rica 2010-2018
- Policy Brief: Mejores criterios para una mejor evaluación. La reforma de los criterios internacionales de evaluación
- Evaluation to connect national priorities with the SDGs
- National Evaluation Systems in Latin America: Challenges and Lessons Learned for Other Regions
- IIED Briefing: La crisis climática: cuatro formas de fortalecer el diseño de políticas públicas a través de la evaluación
- Spuren hinterlassen
- Dejar huella
- Leaving a Footprint
- Policy Brief: No más cajas negras
- Policy Brief: Evaluando la sostenibilidad en tiempos de la Agenda 2030
- Policy Brief: Estándares para evaluaciones del DEval
- Policy Brief: Stärkung von Evaluierungskapazitäten: ein systemischer Projektansatz des DEval in Lateinamerika
- Policy Brief: Evaluation Capacity Development: A Systemic Project Approach by DEval in Latin America
- Policy Brief: Fomento de Capacidades en Evaluación: Un Enfoque de Proyecto Sistémico de DEval en América Latina
- Ein Interview mit Olga Marta Sánchez Oviedo, Planungsministerin von Costa Rica, und Jörg Faust, Direktor des DEval
- Una Entrevisita a Olga Marta Sanchez Oviedo, Ministra de Planificación de Costa Rica, y Jörg Faust, Director del DEval
- Policy Brief: Evaluierungsstandards für Lateinamerika und die Karibik
- Policy Briefs: Evaluation Standards for Latin America and the Caribbean
- Evaluation Standards for Latin America and the Caribbean
- Diretrizes Para Avaliação para a América Latina e o Caribe
- Estándares de Evaluación para América Latina y el Caribe