"The main aim of this study is to examine and document the current state of how communicators and evaluators share results of development co-operation and specifically the outcomes of evaluations, including ‘negative’ or ‘sensitive’ results. Related to this, the study will shed light on the state of evaluation of the efforts undertaken by OECD aid agency communicators themselves: looking at whether, to what extent and how donors monitor measure and evaluate the effectiveness and impact of their communication strategies. First, the study will highlight key trends that have shaped the communication context for development evaluation. Second, and in separate sections, it will reflect on the evaluation and communication perspective around communicating results. For each of the two disciplines, and with reference to results of recent surveys, the paper will reflect on questions of definition, mandate, track record, challenges, and status of collaboration, and reference examples of emerging good and bad practice. Third, it will highlight the dynamics around communication of ‘negative’ or ‘sensitive’ evidence, identified by both evaluators and communicators as among the biggest challenges to be addressed. Fourth, it will look at how systematically agency communication strategies and initiatives are evaluated, exploring the extent to which evaluators and communicators work together in assessing these strategies. Fifth, the study will reflect on the experience to date in involving partner countries in communicating evaluation results, before concluding with a series of proposals aimed at improving collaboration between evaluators and communicators." (Introduction)

"This study was commissioned by the OECD DevCom Network to provide input to a workshop organised jointly with the UK Department for International Development (DFID) on ‘Communicating Evaluation Results’ (London, 12 October 2012), convened as a forum for sharing of experience between evaluators and communicators on how best to build collaboration in communicating results from development evaluation. This final version of the study includes examples from the London workshop. The study builds on previous workshops and seminars convened by the DevCom Network (notably the Evaluation Workshop held in Bonn, 19-20 March 2007), as well as discussions convened by the DAC Network on Development Evaluation (EvalNet) at its 11th and 12th meetings (16-17 November 2010 and 23-24 June 2011). It also draws on two documents prepared by the author to inform a process leading to the development of OECD DAC guiding principles for results communication." (Introduction)