How crucial is development evaluation to the success of SDGs?

The African Development Bank (AfDB) is celebrating a significant milestone this year, as it marks 40 years of evaluations with over 2,000 evaluations conducted and reported. To shed light on the importance of development evaluation in supporting African countries in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Karen Rot-Munstermann, Acting Evaluator General at the AfDB's Independent Development Evaluation, joined CNBC Africa's Kenneth Igbomor for an insightful discussion. Rot-Munstermann highlighted the critical role that independent evaluation plays in assessing the performance of development interventions, identifying what works, what doesn't, and why. Evaluations go beyond monitoring and tracking progress to provide decision-makers with evidence-based insights on the relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, and sustainability of interventions. By fostering a culture of evaluation, organizations can continuously improve their effectiveness and ultimately enhance their impact. Evaluations also offer valuable lessons that can inform future policies, strategies, and projects. The AfDB's Evaluation Week serves as a platform to engage stakeholders, share knowledge and experiences, and underscore the importance of evaluation in improving the bank's work and impact. This year's event focuses on bridging the gap between evaluation knowledge and action to support African countries in attaining the SDGs. With just a decade left until the SDG targets, evaluation is crucial for understanding progress, identifying challenges, and leveraging lessons learned to enhance development impact. By incorporating evaluation findings into policies and strategies, decision-makers can enhance the design and implementation of interventions, ultimately bringing them closer to achieving the SDGs. Data plays a central role in the evaluation process, as it involves collecting and analyzing information on program activities, outputs, and outcomes. Beyond statistical data, the knowledge and experiences of project beneficiaries are invaluable sources of information that require collaboration with stakeholders to access. By harnessing a mix of quantitative data and qualitative insights, evaluations can provide a comprehensive understanding of development interventions and inform decision-making for improved results.