WHO's Evaluation Office

The WHO Evaluation Office leads and coordinates the Organization’s evaluation function across the three levels in line with the Evaluation Policy (2025) and Executive Board-approved, organization-wide biennial evaluation workplans. It works closely with regional evaluation focal points in each of the six regional offices. An internal Global Evaluation Network composed of evaluation staff across the Organization further facilitates collaboration.

The Office ensures independent evaluations meet three core standards: independence (free from influence and separate from programme delivery), credibility (built on evaluator expertise and transparent methods), and utility (relevant and timely for decision-making and learning).

A formal management response system helps track the implementation of recommendations, how evaluation findings are used, linking them to future activities and reporting progress through dedicated dashboards, periodic reports to senior management and the Annual Evaluation Report submitted to the Executive Board. Evaluation results feed directly into organizational learning, planning and performance improvement.

WHO is also an active member of the United Nations Evaluation Group (UNEG), working alongside other UN bodies to promote high standards and shared approaches to evaluation across the system.

The United Nations Evaluation Group in its Norms and Standards defines an evaluation as:

"….an assessment, as systematic and impartial as possible of an activity, project, programme, strategy, policy, theme, sector, operational area or institutional performance. It focuses on expected and achieved accomplishments examining the results chain, processes, contextual factors and causality, in order to understand achievements or the lack thereof. It aims at determining the relevance, impact, effectiveness, efficiency and sustainability of the interventions and contributions of the organizations of the UN system."

Evaluation types

Evaluations are grouped into five main categories based on who manages them and the level at which they are conducted.

Corporate evaluations are managed by the WHO Evaluation Office and focus on strategic, organization-wide issues. They are aligned with WHO’s global priorities and provide insights that help improve policies, processes, and performance across the Organization.

- Thematic evaluations explore key institutional topics such as the General Programme of Work (GPW), equity, innovation, or WHO’s ways of working. These evaluations often cut across different parts of the Organization and examine issues of corporate or strategic interest.

- Programmatic evaluations assess major programmes or initiatives that involve more than one WHO level or budget centre, such as a global health strategy for a disease, condition, or health system or initiative implemented at both headquarters and regional levels.

These evaluations are commissioned by WHO regional offices, HQ departments, WHO hosted partnerships/special programmes, or country offices. While commissioned by business centres outside the Evaluation Office. They must meet established quality standards to be considered independent, with the Evaluation Office ensuring quality assurance. The Office can provide technical support and, in a few cases, manage evaluations. They are particularly valuable for learning and accountability at operational levels.

- Thematic evaluations in this category typically focus on regional or HQ technical or programmatic priorities, such as evaluating a regional strategy or a specific cross-cutting issue relevant to a particular department.

- Programmatic evaluations assess specific programmes or projects, often covering more than one country or operational unit, and are used to inform future planning and implementation.

Country Programme Evaluations (CPEs) assess WHO’s overall contribution to health results in a specific country.

These evaluations take into account the inputs and efforts of all three levels of the Organization, including headquarters, regional offices, and the country office.

They are essential to documenting achievements and gaps related to a WHO country office’s Country Cooperation Strategy (CCS) and contributing to the planning of subsequent CCS. They focus on how WHO’s support aligns with national health priorities, WHOs General Programme of Work, the country’s CCS, WHO biennial workplans, national health plans and UN United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework.

Joint evaluations are carried out with other UN agencies or multilateral partners to assess initiatives that involve shared objectives or joint implementation. These evaluations promote collaboration, system-wide learning, and mutual accountability. They often focus on global issues and multi-partner actions and can cover one or more countries. and are often linked to broader UN or multilateral frameworks.

These multi-partner joint evaluations include a focus on WHO’s role in preparing for and responding to health emergencies and humanitarian crises. They can include real-time evaluations (conducted early in a crisis to provide immediate feedback to operational teams), and Inter-Agency Humanitarian Evaluations (IAHEs), coordinated with other UN bodies to assess the collective response to major emergencies.

About evaluation

Evaluation types

Corporate evaluations

Decentralized evaluations

Country programme evaluations

Joint evaluations

Humanitarian and emergency evaluations