The toolkit offers practical guidance for government officials and evaluators seeking to improve their evaluation capacities and systems, by enabling a deeper understanding of their strengths and weaknesses and learning from OECD member country experiences and trends. 

It supports the practical implementation of the principles contained in the 2022 OECD recommendation on public policy evaluation (the Recommendation), which is the first international standard aimed at driving the establishment of robust institutions and practices that promote the use of public policy evaluations. Together, the Recommendation and this accompanying toolkit seek to help governments build a culture of continuous learning and evidence-informed policymaking, potentially leading to more impactful policies and greater trust in government action.​

The toolkit also includes a self-assessment tool to facilitate the assessment of governments’ existing evaluation capacities, along with their strengths and potential areas for improvement. Such an assessment can serve as a starting point for the development of an evaluation capacity improvement roadmap.

The toolkit has 4 intended uses. 

1. Assess: take stock of the current situation with regard to the principles and standards promoted by the Recommendation and identify opportunities for improvement.
2. Inspire: identify trends and good practices from other OECD Members, which may act as a reference for the development of local solutions.
3. Act: identify potential practical solutions and tools to action the goals and principles of the Recommendation.
4. Learn: access and identify existing resources developed by other countries and organisations allowing to learn more about specific issues and potential methods / solutions.