What we do | Evaluations

Evaluation at UNICEF generates independent evidence to assess what works, for whom, under what circumstances, and why. By examining the relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, coherence, impact, and sustainability of UNICEF's policies, programmes, partnerships, and institutional performance, evaluations help strengthen accountability, foster learning, and inform better decisions for children.

UNICEF undertakes a diverse portfolio of evaluations at the global, regional, and country levels. Together, these evaluations provide timely and credible evidence to improve programmes and policies, respond to emerging challenges, and support continuous organizational learning.

Evaluation at UNICEF is planned across global, regional, and country levels to ensure that evaluation responds to strategic priorities and evidence needs across the organization.

At the global level, the Evaluation Office leads evaluations prioritized in the Plan for Global Evaluations and in line with its Annual Workplan. These evaluations address organization-wide strategic priorities and issues of global significance to UNICEF.

At the regional level, Regional Offices develop Regional Evaluation Plans that identify evaluation priorities and evidence needs across their respective regions and complement evaluations undertaken at the global and country levels.

At the country level, Country Offices plan and manage evaluations through Costed Evaluation Plans, which support the implementation of UNICEF Country Programmes and identify priority evaluations to inform programme learning, accountability, and decision-making.

Together, these planning mechanisms help create a coherent evaluation portfolio that responds to evidence needs at different levels while contributing to learning and accountability across UNICEF.

Explore our evaluation portfolio by theme and type to discover how evaluation contributes to better outcomes for children around the world:

• Development effectiveness and impact evaluations
  Assessing the results, effectiveness, and long-term impact of UNICEF's programmes and strategies for children.
• Humanitarian effectiveness evaluations
  Evaluating UNICEF's preparedness, response, and recovery efforts in humanitarian settings.
• Institutional effectiveness evaluations
  Examining UNICEF's policies, systems, governance, organizational performance, and ways of working.
• Joint evaluations
  Working with United Nations agencies, governments, and partners to evaluate shared programmes and collective efforts.
• Regional and country-level evaluations
  Generating context-specific evidence to inform decisions, strengthen accountability, and improve results across UNICEF's regions and countries.