French version of the 2nd edition of the Guidebook "Country-led evaluation to achieve the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs" launched
Launch of the French edition of the guide for those commissioning, managing and conducting evaluations, with evaluation leaders from Nigeria, Uganda and Finland sharing country experiences.
About
On 30 July 2026, the International Development Evaluation Association (IDEAS), the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland, the German Institute for Development Evaluation (DEval), and the UNICEF Evaluation Office officially launched the French version of the second edition of the Guidebook "Country-led evaluation to achieve the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals: A guide for evaluation commissioners and managers", co-hosted with the Réseau francophone de l'évaluation (RFE).
With only four years to 2030 and most SDGs off track, the session argued that trusted, evaluative evidence matters now more than ever. Governments report through Voluntary National Reviews on the what they have achieved; an evaluation establishes what actually changed, and why. That distinction sits at the heart of General Assembly resolution 77/283, Strengthening voluntary national reviews through country-led evaluations, adopted without a vote in 2023 following a process led by Nigeria.
The second edition responds to a changed context since the launch of the first edition in 2020: a poly crisis including climate, conflict, food security and migration pressures, alongside weakening democratic space and a crisis of confidence in institutions. It adds new chapters on triggering the political decision to initiate a country-led evaluation, and on the use and influence of evaluation findings.
The French launch event featured speakers from co-authors and contributors to the country cases of the guidebook from Finland, Nigeria, and Uganda. A representative from Malawi, which is currently doing its first evaluation of SDGs 3 and 7, provided remarks about their evaluations' intended use and influence.
Speakers
- Juha Uitto, President, International Development Evaluation Association (IDEAS) - opening remarks
- Thomas Rossmüller, Evaluation Specialist, UNICEF Evaluation Office - introductory remarks
- Dirk Hoffmann, Evaluator, German Institute for Development Evaluation (DEval) - moderator
- Ada Ocampo, senior evaluation expert and former President of IDEAS - overview of the second edition, and panel moderator
- Nea-Mari Heinonen, Deputy Director, Development Evaluation Unit, Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland - panellist
- Bala Yusuf-Yunusa, Senior Technical Adviser, Office of the Senior Special Assistant to the President on the Sustainable Development Goals (OSSAP-SDGs), Nigeria - panellist
- Timothy Lubanga, Commissioner for Monitoring and Evaluation, Office of the Prime Minister, Uganda - panellist
- Gringoster Kajomba, Chief Economist, Ministry of Finance, Economic Planning and Decentralisation, Malawi - special guest
- Hortense Ella-Menye Batindek, Vice-President, Réseau francophone de l'évaluation (RFE) - closing remarks
All editions of the guidebook can be downloaded here.
