Development practice being a quest for innovation and societal change, there is clearly an ongoing need to find out exactly what works when and in which circumstances. Against this background, it is becoming increasingly common to build evaluations into processes of institutional learning. Although partnerships, national ownership, facilitation, stake- holder participation and dialogue are all important aspects of evaluation, as well as a marked tendency towards the decentralisation of decision-making, effective communication is also becoming more and more important as an integral part of the evalua- tion process.
