Evaluation plays a critical role in informing the design and delivery of policies and programmes that lead to better – fairer, more sustainable – development outcomes. Evidence from evaluation, and the critical thinking evaluation can support, play a crucial role in helping decision makers and communities ensure policies and programmes deliver positive, lasting results for people and the planet.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has established common definitions for six evaluation criteria – relevance, coherence, effectiveness, efficiency, impact and sustainability – to support consistent, high-quality evaluation. These criteria provide a normative framework used to determine the merit or worth of an intervention (policy, strategy, programme, project or activity). They serve as the basis upon which evaluative judgements are made.

This chapter explains the purpose of the document and how it can support readers in understanding the adapted criteria definitions and use them in their work. It also explains how the guidance was developed, including the role of global evaluation stakeholders in informing its design and content. The chapter then considers how the criteria should be applied thoughtfully to improve both the delivery and design of evaluations.

This chapter outlines the purpose of the six evaluation criteria and explores their role within evaluation. It explains how the criteria can be thought of as a set of complementary lenses and the way that each criterion can provide a different perspective on the intervention and its results. The chapter also considers different types of interventions that can be evaluated by applying the criteria as the basis for judging its value or merit. The final section explores how the criteria relate to other evaluation norms and standards.

This chapter considers the practical aspects of how the criteria should be used in evaluation design and implementation. It reviews the two main principles that should guide the application of the criteria. The chapter begins by exploring different approaches that can support thoughtful application of the criteria. It then addresses how the criteria can be applied within different institutional settings with different strategic priorities, ways of working and cultures. It outlines how the criteria can prompt evaluators to consider differential experiences and impacts by applying a gender lens. Finally, it examines how the criteria can help evaluators and evaluation managers to work in ways that support achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals and the wider 2030 Agenda. The chapter includes a range of practical examples illustrating how the criteria have been applied to various evaluations.

This chapter considers each of the six criteria in greater detail. It explores what their definition means in practice, different elements of analysis and how the criteria can be applied in ways that critically reflect inclusion and equality. For each criterion, a table outlines key challenges to their application with practical recommendations on how they can be addressed by evaluators and evaluation managers. The chapter includes a range of examples that illustrate the practical application of the criteria and prompt critical reflection on the dimensions of each definition.