The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development adopted by the United Nations in 2015 puts follow-up and review processes at the heart of global and natioanal efforts to achieve the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It says the follow-up and review processes will be informed by country-led evaluations and data which is high-quality, accessible, timely and reliable. IIED and the EVALSDGs network have prepared a series of briefing papers looking at effective evaluation for the SDGs. The briefings make the case for greater use of evaluation and evaluative thinking in follow-up and review processes for the SDGs, especially at the national and sub-national levels.
They argue that effective evaluation goes beyond measurement, and provides a way to explain data trends and investigate whether progress is equitable, relevant and sustainable. EVALSDGs (Evaluation – adding Value And Learning to the SDGs) is a network of policymakers, institutions and practitioners who advocate for evaluation of the SDGs and support integration of evaluation initiatives into national, regional and global SDG feedback and review systems.
EVALSDGs aims to form a strong evaluation platform to inform, support, measure and assess development efforts around the SDGs (PDF). IIED experts are engaged in wide range of work across the 2030 Agenda.