Paper Proposal: Learning from evaluation and enhancing evalua- tion capacity: under which conditions? Lessons drawn from three case studies in Wallonia (original) (raw)

1. ABSTRACT Evaluation, considered as a practice aimed at enhancing the quality of management of poli- cies or programmes, can help decision-making and implementing at all levels of responsibil- ity. Its objectives are to improve the quality of strategic decisions, to optimise the allocation and mobilisation of resources, and to give authorities, implementing bodies and citizens an account of the results of a policy or a programme. The creation of a learning process in an evaluation context will help to reach those objectives. Over the past three years, the Walloon public authorities have greatly increased its use not only of evaluations in general but also of the recommendations included in evaluation reports. Where in the late nineties evaluation, notably linked to structural funds, was seen as an obli- gation, recent experiences show that the public authorities have actually taken the opportunity to use evaluation results to improve their capacity of action. The paper illustrates...