United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime

Evaluation Handbook

III. B. Background Documentation Collection

The provision of the background documents is the responsibility of the Project Manager.

An initial list of background documentation, which can be refined during the evaluation process, is to be jointly prepared by the Project Manager and the Core Learning Partnership (Please see Chapter I, Section E. for further information on the CLP).

While preparing this list and collecting the documents, Project Managers make an assessment as regards to the documentation that the Evaluator(s) have to review. The purpose of such a review is to have a clear understanding and a good overview of the project/programme achievements.

Please note that this process takes time depending on the availability of the sources from which the background documentation can be obtained. It is therefore recommended that the Project Manager initiates the collection well in advance of the evaluation.

Once the evaluation has started, the evaluator can request additional and complementary information based on the initial review of the background documentation. The collection of documentation is a continuous task during the evaluation process. It is the Project Manager's responsibility to provide the additional information requested by the evaluator during the evaluation.

The type of background documents to be collected are: mandates, national strategies, project/programme documents, monitoring and reporting documents (e.g. baseline data, progress reports, mission reports and minutes of meetings), policies of UNODC and other stakeholders, information on projects and programmes undertaken by others in a relevant area, and previous evaluation reports or reports on evaluations undertaken by other partners.

Additional documents, such as policies of UNODC and other stakeholders, and information on projects and programmes undertaken by others in a relevant area, must also be part of the background documentation required for the desk review. This will help the evaluators gain a historical and contextual understanding of the situation in which the UNODC project or programme is being implemented. Earlier evaluation reports or reports on evaluations undertaken by other partners should be made available as well.

Each UNODC project or programme is required to produce regular monitoring and reporting documents (most of the documents are available on ProFi). Each project or programme should also ideally have collected baseline data on the situation at the beginning of the project or programme. The evaluation uses the baseline data to compare with the data collected about the progress made towards the achievement of project objectives. Project objectives and expected results are shown in the logical framework, which is part of the programme or project document.

In an Independent Project Evaluation Project Managers assemble the background documents as early as possible, make them available for IEU (usually a shared folder is created), and send them to the evaluation team in advance so that the team can start with the desk review as soon as possible (please see Chapter IV, Section A).

This list of background documentation is part of the evaluation Terms of Reference (please see Chapter III, Section C).

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Table of Contents

Acronyms

Foreword

Introduction

Chapter I: Defining Core Concepts

Chapter II: Planning an Evaluation at the Design Stage

Chapter III: Managing an Independent Project Evaluation