Assessment Of Development Results Lao Pdr Second Assessment

This independent Assessment of Development Results in Lao PDR, conducted by the Evaluation Office of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), is part of a series of country-level evaluations. The evaluation examined the UNDP contribution to Lao PDR’s development from 2007 to 2010 and provides forward-looking recommendations that are useful for the formulation of the new UNDP country programme in Lao PDR.

This report presents the findings of the country-level evaluation, Assessment of Development Results (ADR), undertaken by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Evaluation Office in 2006. The ADR is an independent evaluation of UNDP's relevance and contribution to a country's development over a given period of time. The goal of the ADR is to generate lessons for strengthening country-level programming and to contribute to the organization's effectiveness.

"The evaluation examines contributions and strategic positioning of UNDP's support to the country's development under the current country programme 2007-2011. The evaluation found that UNDP has made important contributions. Most notably, it has been playing a lead role in supporting the Government coordinate aid in the country where approximately 70 percent of public investment comes from external sources. It has also helped the Government integrate poverty reduction into its national development plan, strengthen local governance, enhance the transparency of parliamentary debates, introduce an environmental assessment of foreign investments, put in place a national system for the clearance of unexploded ordinances, develop response capacities to natural disasters, and align its legal system to international treaties and conventions on human rights and the environment. The report points out that further effort would be needed for the benefit of UNDP's work to reach ordinary citizens: for example, the national development plan needs to be implemented in a truly pro-poor manner, the legal system must be strengthened to enforce treaty obligations, and strengthened local government capacity needs to be effectively utilized by channeling development funding through it. UNDP programme activities themselves need to be more pro-poor and gender-mainstreamed in substance"--Publisher's website.

This is the second Assessment of Development Results (ADR) conducted by the Independent Evaluation Office of UNDP in 2014 with a view to contributing to the realignment of the ongoing country programme (2011-2015) and the corresponding gender strategy to ensure consistency with: the Somali New Deal Compact, the UN Integrated Strategic Framework, the UNDP Strategic Plan (2014-2017) and the Gender Equality Strategy (2014-2017). In so doing the ADR will also contribute to the preparation of the new UNDP country programme that will begin in 2017.

The Independent Evaluation Office (IEO) of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) conducts country evaluations called “Assessments of Development Results (ADRs)” to capture and demonstrate evaluative evidence of UNDP’s contributions to development results at the country level. Independent Country Programme Evaluations (ICPE), formerly known as Assessments of Development Results (ADR), assess the attainment of intended and achieved results as well as UNDP contributions to development results at the country level. Their scope include, but is not confined to, UNDP responsiveness and alignment to country challenges and priorities; strategic positioning; use of comparative advantage; and engagement with partners.

This two volume report on Viet Nam’s Assessment of Development Results (ADR) focuses on the following three thematic areas: fostering democratic governance; achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and reducing poverty under a human development perspective; and ensuring environmental sustainability. Reflecting on the characteristics of Viet Nam’s economic history, its current juncture and prospects, the ADR examined the past with a forward-looking perspective.