Evaluation of the 2012-16 Commonwealth Foundation Strategy

The overall purpose of the evaluation is to evaluate the work of the Commonwealth Foundation during the 2012-16 Strategy period (subsequently extended to 2017).

In addition, the evaluation has three complementary purposes:

• Learning: Provide lessons to feed into the consultations on the new Commonwealth Foundation strategy to be launched in July 2017. The ToR make specific reference to lessons regarding the Foundation’s future Logic Model  or Theory of Change; the shape and modalities of its programmes; and the Foundation’s own organisation and ways of working, including its planning, monitoring, assessment and knowledge sharing processes.
• Accountability: Provide the basis for the Foundation to be accountable to its Board of Governance and Executive Committee for the achievements of its programmes and projects, and of the quality of organisational support associated with those.
• Communications: Identify for a wider audience some of the key issues and findings of the evaluation in relation to the Foundation’s outcomes of creative expression, capacity development and constructive engagement with governance.

The primary objective of the Foundation’s work is to promote the participation of civil society in effective, responsive and accountable governance. In pursuit of this objective the Foundation supports four Outcome Area programmes – Creative Expression, Capacity Development, Constructive Engagement and Knowledge Management – and a Grants Programme which is aligned to those Outcome Areas. The evaluation reviews the performance of the Outcome Area and Grants programmes during the strategy period, and the support offered by the Foundation to these programmes.