"In a world full of uncertainty, having a compass that points toward utility and credibility is essential."
When I first joined the UNICEF Evaluation Office in New York, words like “results-based management” and “theory of change” buzzed around me, but they felt like abstract puzzle pieces I had not yet learned to fit together.
Thankfully, it did not take long before I saw how evaluation at UNICEF acts as a compass, guiding decisions across the organization. Through this journey, I came to understand the lessons it uncovers, the recommendations it inspires, and the changes it brings to children’s lives.
One of the most powerful moments of my internship was hearing the Evaluation of UNICEF’s Strategic Plan referenced during the Executive Board’s Annual Session in June 2025. It was a moment of pride and clarity, showing how evaluation promotes accountability and empowers programmes to stay focused and impactful.
What is the Strategic Plan?
Every four years, UNICEF publishes its Strategic Plan as a roadmap of key goals, priorities, and strategies for delivering results. The 2022–2025 Plan focused on areas such as nutrition, health, education, protection, and water and sanitation – while also addressing global shifts, such as digital technologies, COVID-19, and climate change.
For every Strategic Plan, the Evaluation Office conducts an evaluation to assess how well the plan enables the organization to deliver on its mission. If the Strategic Plan is the map, evaluation acts like a compass, checking whether UNICEF is staying on course and enabling course corrections when needed. It holds the organization accountable to the communities it serves, ensuring children and families receive meaningful, effective, and responsive support.
Three lessons that stuck with me
Reading the Strategic Plan Evaluation gave me a deeper understanding and a behind-the-scenes look at both UNICEF’s work and how evaluation supports learning, accountability, and adaptation. It also resonated with many of the lessons I learned through hands-on experience during my internship. Among these connections, a few insights stood out:
- The theory of change as a roadmap. The Strategic Plan is guided by a theory of change that maps how UNICEF expects to achieve results through key enablers, strategies, and outcomes. The Evaluation examined how well this theory held up in practice – comparing intended outcomes with actual progress and identifying where adjustments were needed. For me, this showed how evaluation not only measures results but fosters learning and strengthens strategic alignment.
- Youth engagement matters. One of my main internship projects focused on developing youth engagement guidance, emphasizing the role of young people as active contributors to evaluation. The Strategic Plan Evaluation reflected this commitment by establishing a Youth Advisory Group, which brought youth voices into consultations and decision-making. As a young person myself, seeing this in action reinforced how essential it is to move beyond tokenism and meaningfully involve young people in shaping the programmes that affect their lives.
- The power of triangulation. One of the first concepts I encountered was triangulation: using multiple data sources and perspectives to strengthen the credibility of findings. The Strategic Plan Evaluation applied this throughout; from its mixed-method design to its synthesis of diverse stakeholder inputs. Seeing triangulation in action helped me understand its importance not just as a method, but as a foundation for trustworthy, balanced, and actionable insights.
Looking ahead
As UNICEF embarks on its next Strategic Plan period (2026–2029), the organization stands at a crossroads: facing tighter funding, internal restructuring, and a world marked by uncertainty. In this moment of transition, evaluation is more important than ever as it helps UNICEF navigate complexity and stay focused on meaningful impact.
The Evaluation of UNICEF’s 2022-2025 Strategic Plan revealed key lessons that shaped the development of the next Plan: It underscored the importance of clarifying UNICEF’s comparative advantage in different contexts, better connecting global ambitions to country-level implementation. It also pointed to the need for more flexible and predictable funding and more intentional engagement with staff, youth, and local actors. These recommendations are already making the next Strategic Plan more focused, inclusive, and adaptable.
As I move forward in my career, I will carry the lessons of evaluation with me: triangulate perspectives and evidence, listen with empathy, and engage with purpose. In a world full of uncertainty, having a compass that points toward utility and credibility is essential.
More information about the Evaluation of the Strategic Plan 2022–2025 can be found on this page.
