Colombia

The collaborative efforts of Colombia¿s Department of National Planning (DNP) and the World Bank has produced the National Evaluation System of Public Sector Performance (SYNERGY). Put in place by the Special Division for Evaluation in DNP, this system has been designed and implemented to change the public sector from an inward-looking, process-oriented body (which sometimes restrains economic and social progress) into a more dynamic, results-oriented partner of the community and private sector in development. This report explores the critical factors in making SYNERGY a successful evaluation system. Such factors include ways of making it an effective management tool, promoting civil society participation by focusing on results for people and leveraging on their energy and resource, defining a constructive learning process for implementation, and providing an enabling environment for a results-oriented public sector.