15 September 2015: The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) present three challenges to evaluation, writes Caroline Heider, Director General, the World Bank’s Independent Evaluation Group (IEG). In a post on the World Bank blog, Heider argues that by addressing the challenges, the evaluation field can help change the understanding of development processes and outcomes.

The first challenge for evaluation relates to the dynamic nature of development and the SDGs. Heider calls for policies and programmes that incorporate evaluation of responses, strategies and real-time feedback to assess feedback loops, results and performance.

Second, it is critical to find indicators that are measurable and capture results at high levels, going beyond simple models of causality to focus on systemic outcomes and multi-directional effects. Heider highlights ways in which complexity contributes to challenges in establishing causality between interventions and observed changes, explaining, for instance, that different parts of a system may react differently to interventions.

Finally, Heider describes challenges in managing trade-offs and achieving multiple desired outcomes. As a first step, she recommends tools to assess trade-offs, while emphasizing the importance of methods that value outcomes and concepts such as equity and natural resources.

Heider also welcomes ways in which the SDGs are “ahead of the game,” namely by: addressing financing and developing targets and indicators in advance of their adoption; and renewing commitments to statistical capacity, such as through the Global Partnership for Development Data, and the data revolution and big data. Heider recommends interweaving such data systems with decision-making processes, and complementing data capacity with evaluation capacity to analyze and triangulate data and promote smart decision-making. [IEG Blog Post]