Evaluations

German cities, towns and districts are increasingly emerging as actors in German development policy. For instance, they champion fair trade and fair procurement or maintain partnerships with municipalities in the Global South. As a result, they are actively shaping “municipal development policy.” This evaluation examines the existing funding for municipal development policy in Germany. Much of the funding in this area is provided by BMZ and implemented by Engagement Global gGmbH and its Service Agency Communities in One World (SKEW). The purpose of this evaluation is to contribute to the strategic and operational development of this funding structure.

International supply chains have become increasingly important over the past few decades as globalisation has progressed. However, in addition to the potential benefits for all actors involved, there is a risk that negative social and ecological effects will be shifted to the production countries. These effects include violations of labour rights as well as environmental damage.
The commitment of German development cooperation to promote sustainable textile supply chains has also increased significantly in recent years. To address the diverse social and environmental challenges in complex supply chains, German development cooperation adopts a variety of strategic approaches. The objective of the evaluation is to investigate the relevance and effects of this combination of German development cooperation instruments.

DEval is carrying out an evaluation synthesis of private sector engagement in development cooperation (DC). This involves systematically reappraising the existing evidence on the effectiveness of private sector engagement and deriving recommendations from it for future instruments and programmes in the thematic area.

The objective of the interdepartmental evaluation is to conduct an independent and comprehensive analysis and assessment of the two departments’ engagement in Iraq.  

REDD+ is a framework developed by the international community under the umbrella of the United Nations. REDD+ aims to mitigate climate change through reducing net emissions of greenhouse gases through reduced deforestation and degradation, and enhanced forest management in low- and middle income countries. REDD+ interventions are an important instrument of climate protection, but impacts of REDD+ are controversial.

The evaluation aims to contribute both to learning and to accountability. In terms of learning, the goal is to identify ways of enhancing the human rights concept and its implementation at BMZ and the implementing organisations as well as to increase its effectiveness in partner countries.

The aim of the second project phase is to enable development cooperation actors to reflect on their own strategy with a view to public opinion and provide information for communication and education work.

The growing relevance of climate change adaptation and the lack of comprehensive evaluation motivate the decision for a strategic evaluation of the German portfolio on adaptation to climate change. To date no systematic analysis of the German portfolio on CCA is available and we know little about the climate-resilience of GDC.
The purpose of this evaluation is to evaluate the relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, impact, and sustainability of the GDC CCA portfolio and its instruments, as well as to assess the coordination, complementarity and coherence of actors, programming and implementation processes.

Insufficient information is available on the extent to which official German DC is successfully meeting its objective of taking into account gender perspectives in all projects in fragile and conflict contexts and designing measures in a gender-sensitive manner. The evaluation therefore sets out to examine this and, on the basis of its findings, trigger learning processes in the policy environment. The findings of the evaluation will also be used for the purposes of BMZ accountability for the gender-sensitive design of German DC measures in post-conflict contexts. At the same time, the evaluation will seek to provide BMZ with information to facilitate policy-making in this field. It will therefore also investigate the extent to which BMZ has put in place appropriate processes, instruments and mechanisms to support consideration of the interactions, synergies and conflicting interests of the objectives of ‘gender equality’ and ‘peacebuilding’ in the context of German DC.

The number of structured funds involving German development cooperation has risen steadily in recent years. Around EUR 800 million in German federal budgetary resources and around EUR 500 million in KfW funds are paid into these funds. However, very little is currently known about the impact of structured funds. The objectives of the evaluation are therefore as follows: 1. Analyse the contribution to mobilising additional funds/sustainability, 2. Analyse the impact on the development of local financial systems and employment, 3. Analyse the implementation of development principles (division of labour, donor harmonisation, strengthening of regional actors), 4. Position structured funds within the objectives of German development cooperation.

Engagement Global was founded in 2012 by the German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development as a non-profit limited organisation to support responsible citizen action and engagement, also on the communal level, in the field of development policies. Towards this end, different programmes were concentrated under one organizational roof some of which already existed whereas others were created after the foundation of Engagement Global. Following a proposal from BMZ as well as from VENRO, the umbrella organisation of development and humanitarian aid non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in Germany, to conduct an institutional evaluation five years after the foundation, this evaluation became part of Deval’s evaluation programme 2017-2019.

The object of this second evaluative study, which was again conducted together with AidData, is how Germany and other donors are viewed by actors in the partner countries of development cooperation and the factors underlying the perceived comparative strengths and weaknesses of individual donors, particularly Germany, by international comparison.

Deval is evaluating the effectiveness of German Development Cooperation in dealing with conflict-induced migration crises by the example of the Partnership for Prospects Initiative in the Middle East.

The evaluation looks at triangular cooperation as a form of cooperation in German DC. Triangular cooperation usually involves three countries at differing stages of development (a traditional OECD/DAC donor – in this case Germany, an emerging economy and a recipient country), which agree on a partnership to implement development measures together.

The aim of a CPR is to take an analytical look at the relevance of an existing country portfolio 'from the outside' ('Are we (still) doing the right thing in the specific country context?'), taking account of the points of view of the German Government, partners and implementing organisations. CPRs are designed to encourage decision-makers to think more about the overall portfolio and to take stock of progress made so far.

The evaluation examines the effectiveness of bilateral, official German development cooperation (DC) in fragile contexts. Fragile contexts are characterised by a lack of state authority, capacity and legitimacy and place considerable demands on the implementation of development measures. Despite this, the number of DC activities with fragile states is steadily increasing.

The evaluation analyses various programmes and measures of German development cooperation to promote private sector cooperation in the agricultural sector from 2006-2016.

The evaluation analyses the programme on wastewater treatment for provincial centres in Vietnam which was implemented 2000.

DEval is conducting a systematic evaluation synthesis of budget support effects and relevant contextual conditions for its success. The exit evaluation then assesses how and to what extent proven positive effects of budget support can be sustained if donors individually or collectively withdraw from the aid modality in a country.

The evaluation subject, the evaluation questions and the methodological approach were developed together with relevant stakeholders during autumn 2016. In the subsequent data collection phase the evaluation team completed the quantitative content analysis in March 2017. Currently, data analysis is underway. First results will be presented during the 2nd quarter of 2017. Finally, report compilation will follow until autumn 2017. The publication of the report is envisaged in spring 2018.

The study aims to contribute to the discourse by providing up-to-date, independent, detailed, and policy-relevant insights into the public opinion on development cooperation and sustainable development.

The planned impact evaluation aims at measuring the impact of participatory land use planning and comprehensive land use planning including all ecosystems.

Weltwärts is financed by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and aims at providing an opportunity for young adults not only to support development projects in partner countries but also to gain new insights in understanding other cultures and ways of living. The evaluation aims at analysing the effectiveness of returning volunteers in Germany. 

Based on the obligations related to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development has set up a three year Action Plan for the Inclusion of People with Disabilities that is being implemented since 2013. The evaluation covers the whole spectrum of interventions implemented in the context of the action plan.

An instrument for integrating the private sector into Germany's development cooperation efforts has been "development partnerships with the private sector", set up in 1999 under the develoPPP.de programme. The evaluation will concentrate on the period 2009 to 2015.

DEval is evaluating the integration of TC instruments in the context of the 2011 Technical Cooperation merger in order to determine and appraise the effectiveness of combining the deployment of TC instruments “in one hand”.

Transnational thematic evaluation of the supporting of agricultural value chains with a focus on poverty reduction and food security. Case studies in Ghana and Burkina Faso.

Working together with the research institute AidData, DEval is carrying out a study to evaluate how partners perceive German development cooperation institutions.

The developpp.de portfolio analysis analyses the cross-country allocation pattern of the programme with regard to the making of applications, granting of approval and implementation of projects from 2009 to 2014.

The desk study defines the position of German Development Cooperation in Health Systems Strengthening on a strategic level. The portfolio analysis explores different aspects of German ODA in health.

As Germany relaunched its development cooperation in Myanmar, DEval is supporting these efforts in the field of sustainable economic development by helping to create the conditions for subsequent impact evaluation.

Desk study focusing on the relevance, functioning and factors for success of Accompanying Measures to Budget Support (capacity development and technical assistance).

The DEval evaluation aimed at assessing the effectiveness of development workers in partner countries, as well as at identifying the supporting or hindering factors for the effectiveness of assignment.

As a new player in the field of German development evaluation, DEval was undertaking a baseline survey of various dimensions of its own objectives, to serve as a benchmark for assessing the impact of its work in the years to come.

The Aid for Trade (AfT) initiative aims at supporting developing countries in realizing potential welfare gains from trade liberalization. The DEval desk study reviews and assesses almost 10 years of German AfT support.

DEval examined the type, scope quality and usage of previous evaluative studies on the BMZ Afghanistan portfolio. The report was published in 2014.

DEval conducted the evaluation on the contribution made by German development cooperation in the Rwandan health sector between July 2012 and October 2013 and published the final report in 2014.