Paris, 6-7 February 2012 Workshop on Lessons Learned from the conduct of the Evaluation of the Paris Declaration PARTNER COUNTRY PERSPECTIVE Case: BOLIVIA Jaime A. Garron Bozo Chief, Financing Negotiations Ministry of Development Planning - Bolivia

CONSENSUS BUILDING – DONOR COMMUNITY In December 2006, the donor community in Bolivia established the Develpment Partner´s Group (GRuS), in order to promote the principles of ownership and alignment. (16 bilaterals, 6 multilaterlas + 1 intergovernmental). With in GRuS, it was created an ad hoc group in order to follow the Paris Declaration Evaluation.

CONSENSUS BUILDING - GOVERNMENT The international agenda in development cooperation is full of political commitments… Multiple Fora + Multiple Actors = Multiple Commitments RELEVANCE of the Paris Declaration: Quantitative targets Monitoring and evaluation. To date, +130 partner countries and development partners have adhered to the Declaration ODA in Iberoamerican Countries ( ) Developing Countries Iberoamerican Countries US$ Millions

WHAT WORKED WELL: EVALUATION STRUCTURE COMMITED DONOR FOCAL POINTS The Dutch Embassy and the Spanish Cooperation Agency for Development acted as an excellent conduct to coordinate the work undertaken with the donor community POLITICAL WILL AT THE NATIONAL COORDINATION Ministry of Development Planning EXPERIMENTED NATIONAL EVALUATION TEAMS INDEPENDENT FIRM: STRATEGY ADVISORS FOR GOVERNMENT REFORM (SAX gr). INDEPENDENT FIRM: SUPPLEMENTARY STUDY ON TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE

WHAT WORKED WELL: EVALUATION STRUCTURE NATIONAL REFERENCE GROUP MINISTRY OF DEVELOPMENT PLANNING MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS DUTCH EMBASSY – DONOR FOCAL POINT SUBNATIONAL GOVERNMENTS: FEDERATION OF MUNICIPAL ASSOCIATIONS CIVIL SOCIETY REPRESENTATIVES: 3 ROUNDS OF MEETINGS CONSORTIUM OF NGOs – UNITAS COMMUNITY BASED REPRESENTATIVE ACADEMIA: EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE OF UNIVERSITES COMPRISING ALL MAJOR PUBLIC UNIVERSITIES

PHASES OF THE EVALUATION COVERAGE 13/20 Agencies participated 87 interviews to Civil Society, Government and Donors representatives 13 forms filled by cooperation agencies 3 focal groups 2 Workshops Field Work 4 4 Validation and data Gathering 5 5 Presentation Preparation 2 2 Instruments Design METHODOLOGY

LEARNING PROCESS Time frame: late start of the evaluation. Involving stakeholders to undertake a peer review (NRG) is very challenging, based on past behavior. Should be done more often. Involving emerging “Non-Paris” donors in the evaluation proved to be difficult, including major South-South providers. Difference in information recording (government and donors). Lack of conceptual agreement and mutual understanding (i.e. technical cooperation). Evaluation timing matched the budgetary process (difficulty to conduct in depth interviews) Staff mobility (institutional memory) Unrecorded information led to an exhaustive revision of aid agreements (tied aid, preconditions, etc.) Lack of substantive evidence in some cases, to make a stronger case. Challenges

INTERNATIONAL AND NATIONAL CONTEXT NATIONAL INTERNATIONAL

LEARNING PROCESS Independent evaluation. Exchange of ideas and feedback from the Core Team and the possibility of accessing the extranet of the Evaluation of the Declaration of Paris. Having a Reference Group involving main stakeholders facilitated dialogue, although not as frequent as expected South-South cooperation with the Colombian evaluation team. Political and operational support of the Government. Openness to provide information on behalf of international cooperation. Knowledge and expertise of the national evaluation team. Provided valuable inputs for developing the Action Plan to Strengthening Development Cooperation Effectiveness in Bolivia, presented in October 2011 to the Executive Branch, and Donor Community. Opportunities