ABSTRACT
This conclusion presents some closing thoughts on the key concepts discussed in the preceding chapters of this book. The book focuses on vital, underemphasized dimensions that should be given more prominence, thereby bringing crucial elements to the attention of policymakers and development practitioners to help them improve development effectiveness. The lessons follow a logical path—from what results should be the focus of attention, to how the results should be measured, and to how to best use the information from evaluation to strengthen the cycle of learning. Development work of the countries and international financial institutions sometimes focuses excessively on producing immediate and visible outputs at the expense of addressing the root causes and underlying issues. The book focuses on the key links in the results chain. It suggests gains from the systematic shifts that evaluation can prompt. Development processes would seem to benefit especially from evaluation findings that highlight vital but underemphasized or overlooked links in the results chain.
