Evaluation in the Government of Canada
Context
Requirements for evaluation in the Government of Canada are outlined in the following:
- Policy on Results
- Directive on Results
- Mandatory Procedures for Evaluations
- Standards for Evaluation
The Policy on Results came into effect on July 1, 2016. It replaced three Treasury Board policies, among them the Policy on Evaluation. Subsequently, the Centre of Excellence for Evaluation ceased to exist, with evaluation activities being handled by the newly created Results Division.
The Secretariat continues to demonstrate functional leadership in implementing, using and developing evaluation practices across the federal government.
Evaluation at the federal level
In the Government of Canada, evaluations are undertaken to:
- collect and analyze evidence to assess the performance of programs, initiatives and policies in a systematic and neutral way
- consider how programs can be improved
Evaluations help inform decision-making, innovation and accountability by:
- helping program managers and executives improve the achievement of results of their program or department
- informing memoranda to Cabinet, Treasury Board submissions, and expenditure management generally
- supporting communication to Parliament and Canadians on the results that departments are achieving
- facilitating innovation and learning within organizations
Evaluation resources
The Results Division of the Secretariat offer useful information, tools and resources for professionals in evaluation in the Government of Canada and anyone interested in evaluation at the federal level.
Policy Documents
- Policy on Results (2016)
- Directive on Results (2016), including the Mandatory Procedures for Evaluation (2016) and the Standards on Evaluation (2016)
- Evaluation competencies
Resources
- Data Linking for Program Monitoring, Evaluation and Reporting
- Guide to Rapid Impact Evaluation
- Integrating Gender-Based Analysis Plus into Evaluation: A Primer (2019)
- Policy on Results: What is Evaluation?
- Policy on Results: What is the difference between Evaluation and Internal Audit in the federal government?
- Program Evaluation and supporting assessments
- Theory-Based Approaches to Evaluation: Concepts and Practices
- Evaluation 101 Backgrounder
- Capacity Survey on Results functions
- Evaluation of the 2009 Policy on Evaluation
Archived reports
Archived information is provided for reference, research or recordkeeping purposes. It is not subject to the Government of Canada Web Standards and has not been updated or modified since it was archived. To access reports no longer available on this webpage, please visit the Government of Canada web archive or Government of Canada publications catalogue.