ABSTRACT
All organizations need periodically to evaluate their effectiveness, question assumptions, review their policies and update obsolete practices, face present and new challenges. Private sector firms are goaded into such reappraisals by the profit motive, competitors and customers. National administrations may be compelled to reform through political scrutiny and pressure, threats of privatization, internal and external management surveys and audits, or budget restrictions. Intergovernmental organizations, such as the UN, are governed by assemblies of member states which make decisions about their programmes, projects and budgets. These decisions are made on the basis of the perceived effectiveness of the organizations to fulfil their mandates, political considerations of (groups of) countries as to in what measure the organizations’ work is in their own national interest, and financial considerations.
