Evaluation in International Development Aid Agencies: the Case of USAID

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID)recently announced its new evaluation policy. The policy is the end results of an unending process for organizational renovation.Evaluation at USAID has degraded during the course of years, both in quantity and quality. This paper examines the policies and practices of evaluation in USAID, and presents examples of USAID evaluation. The results of reviewing cases and existing literature suggests that effective evaluation requires: a) an agreed consensus of the agency on the definition and modality of evaluation, b) cultural and structural support of the agency for evaluation, and c) clearly and consistently written guidelines should be provided.