Strategic Evaluation -A study of its purpose in SIDA and SADEV
Background and Problem discussion: Strategic evaluations are important as they providecrucial information regarding Swedish development assistance and recommendations on howto face problems and inadequacies found in the evaluations. Therefore, the follow up ofrecommendations is of great significance as well. Unfortunately, SIDA?s ManagementResponse system for follow-up of strategic evaluations has not been functioning in asatisfying way and needed actions have not been taken. Thus, Swedish developmentassistance has been criticised for the lack of implemented actions and the public has startedto question the work carried through by the organisations. The concepts of institutionalism,isomorphism and organisational hypocrisy will be investigated to enhance our understandingof the behaviour of organisations. The question at issue is the following:What is the purpose of strategic evaluation in the development assistance organisations ofSIDA and SADEV?Delimitations: Instead of investigating all organisations involved, we will specify ourenquiry on two organisations that handle strategic evaluation in the development assistancebusiness, SIDA and SADEV. Within SIDA we have included only the Department forEvaluation and Internal Audit and the Department of Policy and Methodology. Finally wehave decided not to investigate any specific strategic evaluations due to time constraints.Methodology: A hermeneutic approach was chosen as the thesis will be influenced by ourinterpretation and understanding. Both secondary and primary data have been used. Thesecondary data consists of relevant literature for the thesis as well as manuals written by theorganisations themselves. The primary data consisted of qualitative interviews with sevenrespondents working in either SIDA or SADEV with strategic evaluation. These data aresupposed to be a sufficient (in terms of validity and reliability) and manageable (due to timeconstraints) interview base.Conclusion: The most prominent purpose of strategic evaluation is to gain and maintainlegitimacy from the organisational environment. Institutionalised structures combined withorganisational hypocrisy and de-coupling are crucial features to preserve the legitimacy andin assisting the organisations in their quest for further legitimacy and towards a successfulsurvival.Further research: An investigation of the implications of strategic evaluation in thecountries which receive development assistance would be of interest as well as a comparisonof strategic evaluation internationally. Moreover, an interesting idea for further researchwould be to examine whether the concept of strategic evaluation exists in the private sectorand within profit organisations.