Evaluation
BIO's 2024-28 management contract aims to assess development and sustainability impact at both strategic and project levels. It is from this renewed ambition that BIO's new evaluation plan originates.
Evaluation plan 2024-2028
BIO's 2024-28 evaluation plan builds on prior evaluation experiences and aims to enhance BIO's impact management while meeting certification requirements from the Special Evaluation Office of Belgian Development Cooperation.
It represents BIO's first comprehensive evaluation framework and has been developed in consultation with the Special Evaluation Office of Belgian Development Cooperation (SEO) and the Directorate-General Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Aid (DGD), and formally approved by BIO's governance bodies.
The evaluation program serves two main, interconnected objectives: learning from experience to inform strategic decisions and ensuring accountability to stakeholders.
It is structured around four complementary evaluation instruments:
Internal assessments
- Strategic Impact Reports (yearly) - Annual portfolio-level assessments tracking BIO's impact performance against strategic targets, based on SIT assessment, monitoring of development indicators and economic modelling.
- Project Completion Reports - End-term evaluations of individual projects, combining monitoring data, internal reports, and stakeholder feedback to assess financial, business, environmental, social, and development outcomes.
External assessments
- Multi-year Strategic Impact Studies (mid-term and end-term) - Independent portfolio-level evaluations, including 12-15 case studies to assess BIO's performance against its strategic framework and theory of change.
- End-beneficiary Focus Studies (min. 2/year from 2026) - Field-based assessments examining profiles and perspectives of end-beneficiaries in selected projects, focusing particularly on African investments and inclusive businesses.
The plan's governance ensures supervision and quality of the evaluations through a Steering Committee (comprising BIO, DGD, and Special Evaluation Service representatives) for external evaluations, oversight from BIO's Board of Directors, and dedicated internal evaluation resources. Findings from external evaluations will be published with management responses.
2023-2024 - Non-financial additionality
In 2023-2024, Steward Redqueen carried out an independent evaluation of BIO's non-financial additionality.
2022-2023 - Decent work & quality jobs
In 2022-2023, Steward Redqueen carried out an independent evaluation of BIO’s contribution to decent work and quality jobs.
2021-2022 - Reducing inequalities
In 2021-2022, Steward Redqueen carried out an independent evaluation of BIO’s contribution to reducing inequalities/SDG10.
2020-2021 - Climate Risk
In 2020-2021, Atkins and Morgan Green Advisory led an independent review of climate-related risks and opportunities to BIO’s project portfolio and operational
activities.
2019-2020 - Private Equity in Sub-Saharan Africa
In 2019-2020, the study zoomed in on four PE funds, all with unique approaches to support African companies.
- Adenia Capital III is a EUR 96m fund that holds control positions through equity investments in eight SMEs in the Indian Ocean and the West Africa region.
- Cauris Croissance II is a EUR 60m fund that holds minority investments through equity and quasi equity in six SMEs in Francophone West Africa.
- AfricInvest II is a EUR 143m fund that holds minority investments through equity and provides debt to 15 companies throughout Africa.
- African Rivers Fund is a EUR 46m fund that primarily provides debt to 28 companies in the DR Congo and Uganda.
Other
For older external case study evaluations and the corresponding BIO management response, please contact BIO.