Accountability and evaluation

The ECLAC accountability system, which is part of the policy of institutional transparency, comprises a set of instruments and tools that brings together the outcomes of oversight and monitoring activities, audit reports, performance evaluations and a range of assessments, which are then presented to the member States of ECLAC and the United Nations, and made available to the general public through various channels.

To ensure consistency across all areas of its activity, ECLAC has developed and implemented a gender mainstreaming strategy as well as a disability inclusion strategy across all its projects and programmes, and applies a policy governing the evaluation of the institution’s performance in terms of relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, impact and sustainability. ECLAC also plans the internal and external evaluations that must be performed during each year, the results of which are disseminated through evaluation reports with findings, conclusions and recommendations that require follow-up. Evaluations are used to detect best practices and to highlight lessons learned. These then feed back into the strategic planning, enriching and improving the design and implementation of the programme of work and the programme budgets.

Besides the array of specific financial and technical reports on projects and programmes, a report on the activities of Commission is presented annually at the session of ECLAC or the Committee of the Whole. This report represents an important and extensive performance accountability instrument that ECLAC submits for the review of its governing body.

As a Regional Commission and part of the United Nations Secretariat, ECLAC is responsible for preparing specific chapters of the reports on programme and budget performance that the Secretary-General submits to the General Assembly, including shared sections relating to the regular programme of technical cooperation and the Development Account, to give two examples.

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