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Dear Abisha,

A useful reference which may help is the DAC guidelines on project and programme evaluations link:

https://www.oecd.org/development/evaluation/dcdndep/47069197.pdf

mentions definitions, evaluation standards, methods and tools. At WaterAid we have emphasised the importance of effectiveness, relevance, sustainability as key evaluation criteria - what this means in practice is that we have, for our Country Programmes evaluations, a format for a terms of reference TOR which includes questions relating to these criteria. The TOR are adjusted depending on the local context and thematic questions of interest. Evaluations involve a mixed team led by an external evaluation consultant plus representation from the Country, the region and our central technical unit. Once the evaluation is carried out, senior management must respond to recommendations in their management response, which contains specific actions.

Another very good reference is RealWorld Evaluation: Working Under Budget, Time, Data, and Political Constraints Paperback – Jan 2012 by Bamberger and Rugh. A summary of the first edition I believe was available as a PDF. This takes a "good enough" approach to evaluation depending on your constraints.

Hope this helps Liza Tong
(PM Acountability and effectiveness, WaterAid)