Evaluation The Forbidden Truth

This book is a journey through Dr Backson Sibanda’s 30 years’ experience in the frequently politicised role of evaluation where principals expect evaluations to not recognise their shortcomings but praise them even for poor performance. Dr Sibanda outlines the challenges facing evaluation professionals who often possess the technical capability but not the political savvy and know-how to deliver evaluation results to a self-interested stakeholder grouping. It is a challenge and resource to executives of international organisations, NGOs, Governments, evaluators, academics, students, researchers and aid organisations. It is not a criticism of executives of international organisations but rather an assessment of the value of evaluation, as well as to evaluate the evaluators.

Through Dr Sibanda’s first-hand experience at the helm of evaluations, 23 of which were in four different United Nations agencies, this book demonstrates that evaluation drives accountability not only for the myriad of resources availed to ensure that development takes place, but also for the results or outputs, outcomes, impacts and changes in people’s lives as a result of development efforts. Dr. Sibanda raises the futility of undertaking “ritualistic or tick box” evaluations which do not result in learnings, whether positive or negative, being adopted and implemented to “avoid re-inventing failure”.

The book notes that notwithstanding that acceptance and willingness to learn results in a win-win situation, most executives of international development agencies, NGOs and even Governments suffer from the King Lion Syndrome - denial that the King’s den does not smell like roses leads to the lion devouring the truth telling dog – which results in Evaluation as the Forbidden Truth as executives live in their denial of the truth.