Statement on PFA/9 made by China on behalf of ASPAG at the 343rd session of the Governing Body of ILO
2021-11-16 23:55

(GB.343/PFA/9:Annual evaluation report (2020–21),1st November 2021)



Thank you, Chair!


1. On behalf of ASPAG, I would like to thank the Office for preparing the Annual evaluation report 2020–21.


2. Internal evaluation function is of critical importance to diagnose the performance of the Office in various areas and provide proper recommendations to ensure the entire work of this Organization is aligned with the strategic priorities of ILO. It is well noted in the report that a total of 18 biennial milestones set by the Evaluation Strategy 2018-2021 have been fully or partially achieved. However, 1 milestone has registered modest progress and was therefore not achieved. ASPAG is committed to supporting the work of EVAL and commends the overall performance of EVAL so far in achieving the the biennial milestones. We request the Office to intensify its efforts on those milestones which are partially achieved or not achieved, inter alia, the Sub-outcome 2.3. on impact evaluation. 


3. It is worth noting that this report covers the time span from the last quarter of 2020 and the first three quarters of 2021 during which COVID-19 pandemic caused severe challenges to the work of ILO and the world of work as a whole. In this context, it is encouraging to see the Office, the EVAL in particular, has successfully accomplished its mandate through a prompt response to the impacts of the pandemic and the timely readjustment of the resources to carry out the evaluation on the effects of the COVID-19 crisis.


4. While understanding the five-yearly independent evaluation of the evaluation function is due in 2022, ASPAG agrees to extend the implementation of Evaluation Strategy period by one year. We also agree with the topics for high-level evaluations for 2022 and 2023 identified in the rolling work plan contained in para 11, in particular, we encourage the Office to harness the evaluation of ILO’s response to the implications of COVID-19 in 2022 with a view to generating high quality evaluation outcomes to inform the improvement of the work of ILO in this regard. Moreover, we thank the Office to provide us with the Terms of Reference of Independent Evaluation of ILO’s Evaluation Function and would like to request the Office to take full leverage of IEE in 2022 as an opportunity to strengthen and reinforce the evaluation function of ILO. ASPAG is keen to learn the findings and recommendations arising out of this evaluation in the future GB Session which may require further governance-level decisions.


5. With regard to the Assessment of the ILO’s effectiveness and results, we are glad to see the progress made under the performance criteria of relevance, cost-efficiency of interventions, effectiveness, management efficiency, monitoring and reporting, and sustainability as indicated by overall results of 2020. Nevertheless, we also note that the preliminary results for 2021 show some decline in the overall performance, notably for the criteria of strategic relevance, efficiency and sustainability, which scored only “partly successful”. ASPAG fully supports the Recommendation 2 in para 92 and requests the Office to draw upon the lessons identified in this report and fully utilize the proposed recommendations in achieving the goal of a human-centred recovery from the COVID-19 crisis that is inclusive, sustainable and resilient.


6. Last but not least, it is a bit regrettable to observe the relatively low score of ILO development cooperation projects in contributing to the SDGs, disability inclusion and environmental sustainability. ASPAG would ask the Office to redouble its efforts to ensure the design and planning of the development cooperation projects is in line with the strategic priorities of ILO and enhance the coordination with other UN agencies in the phase of project implementation while taking into account the national development strategies.   


7. With what have been said, ASPAG endorses the decision point of this agenda item. 


Thank you, Chair!