1. Culture and Evaluation Interest Group Highlights from 2016 and next steps
UNEG Strategic Objective 3: Evaluation informs UN system-wide initiatives and emerging demands
Susanne Frueh, UNESCO

2. Culture and Evaluation Interest Group
New group established in 2016 under SO3 with UNESCO as convener
Members: GEF, ILO, UNDP, ITC, PBSO and UNHCR
Purpose:
assess the linkages between culture and evaluation in a more systematic way
Generate operationally relevant lessons for UN organizations

3. Key Activities in
Commissioning of discussion paper on Culturally responsive evaluations in and outside the UN system
Presentations at European Evaluation Society Conference in September 2016 and UNEG EPE in May 2017
UNEG Webinar on discussion paper in March 2017
Discussion paper published in spring 2017

4. Purpose of Discussion Paper
Collect information on past efforts and lessons learned on integrating culture into evaluations in the UN
Identify good practices outside the UN
Distill lessons learned from academic literature
Act as a catalyst for the engagement of UNEG on this issue

5. Understanding Culturally Responsive Evaluation (CRE)
Evaluation cannot be separated from the sociocultural contexts within which social programmes are implemented
CRE honours the cultural context by bringing shared life experience and understanding to evaluation
Principles: integrity and validity, ethics, indigenous knowledge, privilege and power
Added value is enhanced credibility and utility

6. Key Lessons Learned for the Future
Encourage an explicit focus on the cultural context of the evaluand
Develop Terms of Reference that consider the impact of cultural context in analysis of findings
Ensure evaluation teams are culturally diverse and have shared living experiences in the cultural contexts
Adopt a flexible evaluation approach that takes into account various contexts

7. Way Forward
UNEG should lead the development of reader-friendly Guidelines for Conducting Culturally Responsive Evaluations in the UN System for presentation to the AGM in 2018 Culture matters and affects every evaluation!