Fostering Impact Evaluation at the Agence Française de Développement: a process of building in-house ownership and capacities

In 2006, the Evaluation Unit of the Agence Française de Développement (AFD) was incorporated into the Research Department in order to integrate a research strand into the work of evaluation. This new approach has led AFD to undertake rigorous impact evaluations in partnership with academic teams. Two such evaluations have already been completed on Madagascar (microfinance) and Guinea (agricultural development), and two randomised control trials have recently been launched in Morocco (microfinance) and Cambodia (micro health insurance). In addition to promoting accountability, the main objective is to produce sound knowledge on development matters and to contribute to national policy-making.