Standard evaluation format
The structure suggested by the EC is reported below:
- Executive Summary
- The executive summary is a dense, self-standing document which presents the project/programme under evaluation, the purpose of the evaluation, the main information sources and methodological options, and the key conclusions, lessons learned and recommendations.
- Tables of contents, figures, acronyms
- Introduction
- Description of the project/programme and the evaluation. The reader is provided with sufficient methodological explanations to gauge the credibility of the conclusions and to acknowledge limitations or weaknesses if there are any.
- Answered questions
- A chapter presents the evaluation questions, together with evidence, reasoning and value judgements pertaining to them. Each question is given a clear and short answer.
- Overall assessment
- A chapter synthesises all answers to evaluation questions in an overall assessment of the project/programme. The evaluation team should not just follow the evaluation questions, the logical framework, or the evaluation criteria. On the contrary, it should articulate all the findings, conclusions and lessons in a way that reflects their importance and facilitates the reading.
- Conclusions, lessons and recommendations
- Conclusions and lessons are listed, clustered and prioritised in a few pages, as are recommendations.
- Annexes
- Terms of reference;
- list of activities specifically assessed;
- logical framework and comments;
- detailed evaluation method including options taken, difficulties encountered and limitations; detail of tools and analyses; list of interviews; list of documents used;
- Any other text or table which contains facts used in the evaluation.