Report – Country-led Joint Evaluation of the ORET/MILIEV Programme in China

The Development and Environment Related Export Transactions (ORET/MILIEV) programme is designed to generate employment, boost trade and industry, and improve environmental quality in developing countries. China is among the main recipient countries of ORET/MILIEV grants. Since the start of the programme, China has undergone rapid and impressive changes.

Today, the country is facing a number of serious challenges, including environmental pollution and growing social disparities, of which the Chinese government and the general public are increasingly becoming aware. Chinese stakeholders are convinced that the ORET/MILIEV Programme can contribute to the solution of many of these environmental and social problems now and in the future.

This evaluation of the ORET/MILIEV Programme has been a truly joint excercise based on a strong donor-recipient partnership. It was initiated jointly by the Policy and Operations Evaluation Department (IOB), of the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Chinese National Center for Science and Technology Evaluation (NCSTE). While the Chinese partner took the lead in the design and implementation of the evaluation, supported by IOB, both partners shared responsibility for the overall process. The evaluation was carried out independently of stakeholders on both sides. Nevertheless the strong partner country involvement in the evaluation met with positive feedback, particularly from the Chinese stakeholders. They believe that the joint character of the excercise itself, and the publication of a joint report, will encourage the dissemination of the evalution results. The findings will proved a solid basis both for Dutch and Chinese decision makers for future policy formulation, and for stakeholders for improving programme management.

As an evaluation institute, NCSTE has visibly improved its professional capacity during the excercise. The acquired knowledge and experience have been applied in other programme evaluations in China and have been shared with other Chinese evaluators. For IOB took, this joint evaluation was a new experience, in that it brought together two different evaluation cultures and systems. This experience was timely, given that recipients of development funds today are more explicitly considered responsible for their own development efforts and for the evaluation thereof.