Teaching people to fish? Building the evaluation capability of public sector organisations

In response to an increasing demand for public sector accountability, many government agencies have sought to develop their internal evaluation capabilities. Often these efforts have focused on increasing the capacity to supply credible evaluations, yet addressing demand is just as important. This article focuses on a government agency and tracks its five-year journey towards developing such a capability. It documents contextual matters, drivers for change, the actions taken by the agency, and its response to emergent challenges during four phases. Based on feedback from project staff and managers and those involved in the capability development project, it offers seven recommendations. These are: start small and grow evaluation; address both supply and demand; work top-down and bottom-up simultaneously; use a theory of change behaviour; develop a common evaluation framework, including a generic programme theory; build knowledge of what works within the agency's context; and systematically and visibly evaluate each stage.