In the case of the flagship social safety net program Bolsa Familia, now reaching around 40 million poor Brazilians with a budget of over USD 6 billion, evaluation has been an integral part of the program since its conception. The establishment of a monitoring and evaluation system was one of the main pillars of the program.
We need convincing evidence that examines the effectiveness of development spending. Such evidence can best come from independent bodies like the National Council for the Evaluation of Social Development Policy (Coneval) in Mexico, the Swedish Agency for Development Evaluation (SADEV) in Sweden, 3ie itself, and, most recently, the UK’s Independent Commission on Aid Impact (ICAI).
