Preface

In a world marked by fragmentation, growing citizen demand and multiple tipping points, governments are confronted with increasingly complex, interrelated challenges. The COVID-19 pandemic has presented such challenges on an unprecedented scale, obliging governments to quickly develop and roll out bold policy responses and extensive expenditure packages.

Especially in times of crisis, maintaining citizens’ trust requires decision makers to be accountable for how well policies work and that they work for all. Failing to rise to the policy evaluation challenge may entail serious consequences for economies and societies, as governments confront the need to make significant progress in evidence-informed policymaking.

The report Improving Governance with Policy Evaluation outlines how OECD countries have developed systemic approaches to policy evaluation. It presents experiences and lessons learned from investing in institutionalisation and promoting quality of evaluation over the past decade. The report provides a unique overview of the institutional frameworks that enable policy evaluation, and promote its quality and use. The many practices, concrete experiences and examples it contains aim at facilitating knowledge sharing and strengthening policy implementation in OECD countries and beyond.

It is essential to equip policy makers with the necessary tools to identify effective solutions for smart, responsive and agile government – this report can help them get there.

 

Jeffrey Schlagenhauf

OECD Deputy Secretary-General