This Guideline provides practical guidance on content and process issues around developing actionable recommendations.
A critical component of the National Evaluation System (NES) is supporting evaluation use. This is done through the development of recommendations in the evaluation report which are implemented through the improvement plan mechanism. The improvement plan is informed by the set of evaluation recommendations, which are developed recommendations by an independent evaluator.
Developed by the custodian departments and stakeholders, the improvement plan outlines strategies for improvement, based on recommendations by an independent evaluator and specifies improvement objectives, outputs, activities, time frames and responsible individuals. The likelihood of implementation of the improvement plan or by implication, the use of the evaluation, hinges largely on the quality of evaluation recommendations and the process for developing them.
The evaluation of the NES undertaken in 2016/17 indicated effective use of evaluation results in government being one of the biggest challenges. Although great progress has been made in entrenching evaluations in government, there have been missed opportunities for using evaluations strategically to support planning, policymaking and budgeting processes.