The First Professional Peer Review of the Evaluation Function in the GEF was completed in May 2009. The Review provided the GEF Council, the Assembly, the GEF Secretariat and the Independent Evaluation Office with an independent assessment of the functioning of the GEF EO and the quality of its work. The Peer Review examined the GEF evaluation function on three core criteria: independence of the GEF-EO and of its evaluation processes, credibility and utility of its evaluations. The findings were presented to the GEF replenishment meetings, integrated into the Fourth Overall Performance Study (OPS4) of the GEF, and informed further discussions and decisions about the functional and administrative independence of the GEF EO.
The Peer Review Panel was comprised of six members:
- Dominique de Crombrugghe, Special Evaluator for Development Cooperation, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA), Belgium, Peer Panel Coordinator
- Caroline Heider, Director, Office of Evaluation, World Food Programme (WFP)
- Heidi Pihlatie, Senior Evaluator, Unit for Evaluation and Internal Auditing, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Finland
- Oumoul Khayri Ba Tall, Senior Evaluator, President of the International Organization for Cooperation in Evaluation (IOCE), Mauretania
- Zhanar Sagimbayeva, Evaluator, Eurasian Development Bank, Kazakhstan
- Karel Cools, Senior Evaluator, Evaluation and Quality Control Service, MOFA, Belgium
The Panel was assisted by two advisors:
- Dr. Horst Breier, Germany
- Dr. Dunstan Spencer, Sierra Leone