National Economic and Development Authority, Philippines

The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) is the premier socioeconomic planning body of the government of the Philippines. It is highly regarded as the country’s authoritative agency on macroeconomic forecasting and policy analysis, and research. It provides high-level advice to policymakers in the Congress of the Philippines and the executive branch of the government.

NEDA is involved in the formation of national and sub-national policies, plans and programmes. The agency reviews, monitors and evaluates infrastructure projects, in addition to undertaking short-term policy reviews that provide critical analyses of development issues and policy alternatives to decision-makers. NEDA has also been instrumental in stimulating the generation and use of evidence in policy-making. It plays a central role in mobilising and coordinating other government departments in stimulating impact evaluation.
Member Since: 2015 Country: Philippines Website

Overview of engagement

NEDA has been engaging with 3ie for several years. It is the focal government agency involved with 3ie in managing our first country policy window (CPW). The Philippines CPW supports a government-led programme of impact evaluations that is funded by the Government of Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade programme in the Philippines. NEDA also coordinates with other government agencies to prioritise which programmes and projects should be subject to 3ie-supported impact evaluations. NEDA,  through the Socioeconomic Planning Secretary or Director General, also chairs the Steering Group for the CPW, which has 3ie and the Australian Embassy in the Philippines as the other members.

NEDA also has been a key partner in the advocacy efforts for more impact evaluations in the region.  It was also a co-host of the 3ie-ADB Manila Conference in September 2014 which attracted hundreds of researchers, government agencies and other stakeholders.

Examples of 3ie engagement

Country Policy Window (CPW):

  • NEDA is the focal government agency that is managing 3ie’s first CPW, which supports a government-led programme of impact evaluations.

Community of practice:

  • In January 2016, a NEDA-Philippines Institute for Development Studies (PIDS) 3ie training course on impact evaluation was organised, using material adapted from Center for Learning on Evaluation and Results (CLEAR). This technical course introduced impact evaluation as a key instrument for determining project or programme effectiveness, informing policy development and improving programme designs. The target audience for this course was a group of 20-30 young academics, researchers and graduate students.

Peer learning:

  • In December 2015, a NEDA-PIDS-3ie policy forum on impact evaluation was conducted, which aimed to build the demand and raise awareness on impact evaluation among policymakers.  Almost 70 government officials and staff from various agencies participated in this forum.