Evaluation and Collaborative Learning Program

Background

A central tenet of DFC’s founding legislation, the BUILD Act, is to develop a 

performance management system that will enable the Corporation to collect information 

pertinent for the monitoring, evaluation, and reporting on its development effectiveness. 

The BUILD Act requires that DFC report on the lessons it has learned from its 

monitoring and evaluation activities, including how the lessons have been applied to 

projects. To satisfy this mandate, DFC developed a best-in-class impact management 

framework, the Impact Quotient (“IQ”), from which each DFC-supported project is 

systematically accessed and scored for potential and actual development impact 

through the lens of three pillars – Economic Growth, Inclusion, and Innovation. DFC’s 

Evaluation and Collaborative Learning Program further implements the IQ and the 

Corporation’s impact management and learning activities by establishing the objectives, 

governance, project selection criteria, methods, and dissemination of evaluations.

Performance Evaluation Objectives

The purpose of the Evaluation and Collaborative Learning Program is to obtain a 

deeper understanding of its effectiveness in achieving positive developmental 

outcomes. Performance evaluations will be used to build evidence to help inform 

changes to DFC policies, procedures, and strategy. Specifically, the Program aims to:

✓ Assess whether a project achieved or is likely to achieve its development 

objectives expected during origination using verifiable data and assess the 

likelihood of the sustainability of these impacts after project closure. 

✓ Collect and assess ancillary, aspirational, or unexpected impacts (positive or 

negative) or impacts that could not be assessed at the time of origination.

✓ Assess how a project compliments (or complimented) USG development 

programs in the country. 

✓ Conduct sectoral, thematic, or country-level strategic evaluations, including 

evaluations on the effectiveness of DFC pilot programs and financial tools. 

✓ Make recommendations and derive lessons to be learned that aim to enhance 

development impact and/or avoid negative impacts for future projects.

✓ Make recommendations and derive lessons to be learned that aim to improve IQ 

metrics, methodologies, processes, and procedures. 

✓ Widely communicate lessons gleaned from performance evaluations to DFC’s 

internal and external stakeholders.
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Program Governance

Performance evaluations and learnings must be useful and relevant to DFC decisionmakers. As such, it is critical that DFC’s performance evaluation activities are 

participatory and include input from relevant stakeholders within the Corporation. Ideas 

for performance evaluations are solicited from DFC staff. An interdepartmental panel 

will select evaluation topics and help guide the evaluation activities. The Evaluation and 

Collaborative Learning Panel (“Panel”) may include members from DFC’s Office of 

Development Policy, Chief Development Office, Chief Finance Office, and Origination 

teams:

The roles and responsibilities of the Panel are to:

✓ Recommend projects and topics for evaluations.

✓ Provide feedback/consultation during evaluations to help ensure high-quality 

results.

✓ Participate in presenting evaluation findings internally and externally.

✓ Support the implementation of changes resulting from evaluations to policies, 

procedures, and/or strategy that pertain to their operational department.

The Panel will meet each spring to establish the following fiscal year’s evaluation and 

learning agenda and budget (allowing for flexibility to meet unanticipated evaluation 

needs), and then will meet throughout the year to consult during the term of the 

performance evaluations. DFC will endeavor to conduct at least two evaluations per 

year based on the criteria established below. 

Upon completion of the performance evaluation, the Panel will produce an action plan 

that will contain specific, actionable recommendations for improvements to DFC 

policies, procedures, and/or strategy that were derived from the assessment. 

Project Selection Criteria for Evaluations

The criteria for selecting projects for performance evaluations will be based on 

relevance to the question being asked. Criteria that may be considered include:

✓ Timing: In general, DFC will select projects that have been in operation at least 

three years. DFC may prioritize projects that are at or near the end of their 

maturity to assess the sustainability of the positive developmental impacts of the 

project, glean lessons learned, and collect client feedback on the DFC’s 

monitoring and evaluation activities. 

✓ Project Size: DFC may prioritize evaluations for larger projects.
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✓ Repeat Clients: DFC may conduct a performance evaluation for projects that are 

seeking further DFC support to assess the impacts of the project to date and 

identify opportunities to increase or replicate the positive development impacts 

(and avoid identified negative impacts) with further support. 

✓ Sectoral, Thematic, or Country Strategic Evaluations: Projects may be selected 

as part of a broader DFC regional, thematic or sectoral “deep dive” in DFC’s 

portfolio, as decided by the Panel. 

✓ Innovative Projects, Products and Programs: In collaboration with the Panel, 

DFC may conduct a performance evaluation of a particularly innovative project, 

financial product or program to assess its development effectiveness. The 

learnings from this type of evaluation will help inform the decision to replicate the 

project, utilize the financial product in a more strategic way, or expand a 

program.

✓ Data Collection: DFC may prioritize the evaluation of projects to collect missing 

data or validate the quality of data.

✓ Course-corrections: DFC may conduct an evaluation to try to rectify projects that 

are not meeting their development objectives, if appropriate. This may be 

conducted in coordination with DFC’s Impact Management and Technical 

Assistance teams, as well as DFC’s credit monitors.

Evaluation Methods

DFC will engage in both external and internal self-evaluations using a variety of analytic 

methods, depending on the question being asked, timeframe required for results, the 

intended audience, and available budget and resources. Performance evaluations will 

utilize both quantitative and qualitative assessments and may include a literature review 

of the topic. Typical quantitative analyses will involve measuring change from 

baselines, and, to the extent feasible, attributing those changes to DFC’s support. Each 

performance evaluation will include an assessment of assumptions and data limitations. 

Qualitative analyses will be conducted through surveys, interviews, and case studies. 

Evaluators will aim to gain perspectives from a variety of stakeholders in a manner that 

will safeguard the dignity, rights, safety, and privacy of participants. This may entail 

anatomizing names of individuals and companies in evaluation reports and read-outs, 

and ensuring surveys and interviews are conducted voluntarily and ethically. 

Stakeholders may include DFC’s private sector partners, project customers, project 

employees, project suppliers, government regulators, and the local community. DFC 

will seek assistance with evaluations from U.S. Embassy staff and USAID Missions, as 

appropriate, for providing host country context, articulating the project’s alignment with 

US foreign policy and/or development strategy in the country, and facilitating in-country 

interviews. 
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Internal self-evaluations will be conducted by a team of 2-4 DFC staff and may include 

members from other departments within DFC. Cross-departmental evaluations will help 

break down silos between DFC departments, enhancing learning and fostering an 

“impact culture” at the Corporation. The members of the evaluation team will be 

selected based on expertise and objectivity. External evaluations will be conducted by 

independent third-party experts that demonstrate appropriate qualifications. These 

evaluators will be selected through a competitive process. 

Dissemination of Evaluation Results 

The learnings gleaned from DFC’s performance evaluation activities will be shared 

widely and publicly, in a method that respects DFC’s responsibility to client business 

confidentiality. 

Performance evaluations will be communicated through various mediums: 

✓ Performance Evaluation Reports: reports will be produced for both internal and 

external audiences, as appropriate. Evaluation reports for internal audiences will 

be available on DFC’s intranet site. Evaluation reports designed for public 

audiences will be available on the IQ page of DFC’s website. 

✓ Internal Presentations: high-level learnings will be conveyed internally in 

presentations to various groups, as appropriate. Project-specific readouts will be 

presented to the relevant project origination departments and/or teams.

✓ External Presentations – high-level learnings may be conveyed externally on 

DFC’s website and other mediums, such as webinars, blog posts, press 

releases, DFC’s Development Advisory Council, and other networks. 

✓ Feedback to DFC Clients: DFC may provide feedback on the outcomes of the 

evaluation with DFC’s clients themselves. This will enable ODP to explore 

opportunities to enhance the positive developmental impact of its projects, as 

well as solicit information on the client’s experience working with DFC.