Thematic evaluations

Evaluation of the utilization of National Professional Officers (2019)

The evaluation of the utilization of National Professional Officers (NPOs) assessed the role played by NPOs in the effective delivery of WHO’s mandate at country level in support of Member State efforts to achieve their national health targets. The evaluation specifically focused on the role NPOs play and how WHO has been utilizing them, and explored ways in which their skills and competencies could be utilized more effectively in the future. The evaluation also documented successes, challenges and best practices, and provided lessons learned and recommendations for future use by management to inform policy and decision-making.

In January 2016, the Geographical Mobility Policy for WHO International Professionals (IPs) on continuing and fixed-term appointments came into effect. During the first three years (2016-2018), the Policy was implemented on a voluntary basis and was evaluated annually. It was envisaged that the lessons learned from these evaluations would inform the Organization on how to effectively implement the Policy during the next phase as of 1 January 2019. This current evaluation was therefore designed as a summative evaluation of the implementation of the Policy during the voluntary phase (2016-2018).

The objective of the evaluation of WHO reform, third stage, was to assess: the status of actions taken on the stage 1 and stage 2 evaluation recommendations; progress made on implementation; and the effectiveness of the WHO implementation approach across the three levels of the Organization. It also aimed to provide recommendations on the way forward.

The objective of this independent review of the evaluation function at WHO was twofold: (i) to assess the implementation of the WHO evaluation policy and inform its update to ensure that WHO meets its evaluation-related reform objectives; and (ii) to assess the implementation of the WHO framework for strengthening evaluation and organizational learning in order to identify areas in need of strengthening.

The evaluation of the WHO Secretariat’s contribution to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) aims to inform WHO’s strategy for the 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development Goals based on organizational learning drawn from past experience. The evaluation covers the entire life span of the MDGs (2000-2015) and assesses the Secretariat’s contribution to the health-related MDGs at the global, regional and country levels.

This evaluation was conducted in two phases. The first phase focused on defining normative work at WHO and proposed a framework for its evaluation. The second phase drew on this framework to evaluate a selection of representative types of normative work (10 normative products) and, based on the findings, make recommendations in relation to WHO’s normative role and function.

The aim of the evaluation of WHO’s presence in countries was to assess the Secretariat’s contribution to the delivery of Organization-wide outcomes and the attainment of country-level goals. This evaluation addressed the following high-level questions:

• What does WHO’s presence in countries mean and does it respond to Member States’ and other relevant partners’ expectations?
• What is the contribution of WHO’s presence in countries to addressing global and individual countries’ health priorities and needs?
• What is WHO’s added value at country level in the light of its level of investment?
• What are the modalities for strengthening or reducing WHO’s presence in countries based on the different health status and needs of individual countries?
• To what extent does WHO exert effective leadership and convening capacity at country level to mobilize different stakeholders and act as a broker of partnerships in support of the national health and development agenda?

In 2015, a major focus of the work of the Evaluation Office was to support the work of the Ebola Interim Assessment Panel established in response to resolution EBSS3.R1, adopted during the special session of the Executive Board in January 2015. The Panel submitted its first report to the Sixty-eighth World Health Assembly, and the final report was delivered in July 2015. The Secretariat issued its response to the Panel’s report in August 2015. The Panel’s recommendations further informed the work of the United Nations Secretary General’s High-Level Panel on the Global Response to Health Crises, the deliberations of the Review Committee on the Role of the International Health Regulations (2005) in the Ebola Outbreak and Response and the Director-General’s Advisory Group on Reform of WHO’s work in Outbreaks and Emergencies with Health and Humanitarian Consequences.

The Report of the Ebola Interim Assessment Panel

The evaluation of the financing dialogue was requested at the 66th World Health Assembly by Member States and the evaluation was completed between February and April 2014. The main objective of the evaluation was to assess whether the financing dialogue and related resource mobilization experiences improved the five principles, namely alignment, predictability, flexibility and transparency of WHO’s financing and whether it broadened WHO’s contributor base.

The second stage evaluation of WHO reform was endorsed by the Executive Board at its 132nd session in January 2013. It assessed the status of action taken on the recommendations of the stage one evaluation, modalities of implementing the reform proposals, the adequacy of the implementation plan and the change management strategy.

The first stage evaluation of WHO reform was entrusted to the Comptroller and Auditor General of India, the then external auditor of WHO. The evaluation was conducted during the period 26 February to 30 March 2012. The scope of this evaluation was to assess the completeness, comprehensiveness and relevance of the reform proposals formulated by the WHO Secretariat in the areas of finance, human resources and governance as contained in the relevant documents.