The FINANCIAL — The Asian Development Bank's (ADB) Board of Directors on December 15 approved a series of measures to further enhance the independence and overall effectiveness of ADB's operations evaluation function.
The measures are based on a comprehensive review of the Bank's operations evaluation function conducted by a Working Group set up by ADB President, Mr Haruhiko Kuroda, in March.
“These initiatives will further enhance the independence and effectiveness of ADB’s evaluation function and will place it at the forefront of international evaluation practice,” said Executive Director, Mr Phil Bowen, chair of the Working Group which also comprised fellow Executive Directors, Mr Howard Brown and Mr. Wencai Zhang, and ADB Managing Director General, Mr Rajat M. Nag.
The measures include extending the term of the Director General of the Operations Evaluation Department (OED) to five years from three years on a non-renewable basis; and the position to be appointed by ADB’s Board, upon the recommendation of the Development Effectiveness Committee of the Board, in consultation with the ADB President.
The Director General’s performance will be subject to annual review by the Chair of the Development Effectiveness Committee, and the budget of the OED will be approved by ADB’s Board separately from the Bank’s administrative budget. OED would be renamed the Independent Evaluation Department to reflect its enhanced independent status.
Although ADB has a clearly articulated model of independent evaluation that emphasizes organizational and behavioral independence, protection from influence, and the avoidance of conflicts of interest, OED’s credibility as an independent evaluation unit could be further enhanced by the measures, the report said.
“We, at ADB, are committed to an independent and effective OED,” said Mr Kuroda. “We welcome the new measures and I assure you that Management is committed to fully implementing the recommendations.”
The review also proposed that interactions between OED staff and operations staff should be intensified to extend ownership of evaluation results and accelerate the application of lessons learned and that a more rigorous system for monitoring progress on the implementation of OED’s recommendations be put in place.
