What is the aim of project evaluation?

• A. A systematic and objective assessment of an ongoing or completed project, focusing on relevance, achievement of objectives, development effectiveness, efficiency, impact and sustainability.
• B. An audit focused solely on budget compliance.
• C. A subjective judgment of project success based on personal impressions.
• D. A post-project celebratory report with no actionable recommendations.

Answer: (A)

The aim of project evaluation is to provide a systematic and objective assessment of a project, whether it is ongoing or completed, covering how relevant the project is to its goals, whether the objectives were achieved, how efficiently resources were used, the development benefits produced, the overall impact, and whether these benefits are likely to be sustained. This approach helps decision-makers understand what worked, what didn’t, and why, so they can decide whether to continue, scale, adjust, or terminate the project, and it supports accountability and learning by turning results into actionable insights. The other options misfit because they either limit evaluation to budget checks, rely on subjective impressions, or produce a celebratory report with no recommendations for improvement.