This is a summary version of a longer evaluation report commissioned by the Development Gateway as part of its application for financial support from the World Bank’s Development Grant Facility. The Evaluation covers the period from 2001, when the Foundation was established, until April 2005, when the full report was delivered by the evaluators. This summary report was created by the evaluators at the request of the Development Gateway. The recommendations that were made in the longer report are repeated in this summary. The evaluators – Dr. H.P. Muth and Dr. F. H. Gerlach – are independent consultants who have not been involved in the work of the Development Gateway. From the Summary: "The evaluation of the Development Gateway Foundation concludes that: • The Development Gateway portal and the programs supported by the Development Gateway Foundation are fully compatible with the Foundation’s mission and objectives. • Continued donor support of the Foundation’s programs is necessary and justified, for three main reasons: o Some of the Foundation’s programs are unique in scope or concept, and some – based on current, primarily anecdotal, evidence – promise growing and eventually major impact in terms of its mission. o Some of the current weaknesses of the Foundation are due to the fact that it ‘lost’ two years of institutional development due to a problematic transition from World Bank incubation to operational independence; o After achieving operational independence, Management of the Foundation has demonstrated its will and ability to overcome these weaknesses and to make the Development Gateway into a powerful player in the ITC4D field.
http://topics.developmentgateway.org/evaluation/rc/ItemDetail.do~1054255?intcmp=700
