This book chapter explores the role of commissioning in shaping the quality and impact of evaluations, drawing on a decade-long collaboration between the Norad Evaluation Department and external evaluators, Itad.
Through the lens of four major evaluations commissioned by Norad’s Evaluation Department between 2014 and 2024, the authors (one a commissioner, the other an evaluator) demonstrate how commissioning can extend far beyond contract administration.
The chapter highlights how commissioners exercised agency, fostered organisational learning, and built partnerships with evaluation teams. It details the practical steps taken at each stage of the evaluation process, including scoping, design, implementation, and dissemination, that help support the utilisation of evaluations, and concludes with actionable lessons for commissioners seeking to strengthen evaluation practice.
