Effective Date: April 1 ,2026
Applicable FAM Policies: 320 - Evaluation
Applicability: GNWT Departments and Housing NWT

INTERPRETATION

Implementing Evaluation Results

The benefits of program design, monitoring, and evaluations can only be realized if the results of the evaluations are acted upon in a timely manner.  Departments shall implement, or meaningfully act upon, the results of evaluations consistent with this subsection.

To accomplish this, Departments must complete a management response that details their plan in implementing the recommendations; should the Department or Housing NWT choose not to implement the recommendations, clear rationale for their reasoning must be provided.

Reporting

To ensure accountability and to track progress on program evaluations, departments must report to the Management Board Secretariat once per fiscal year, as MBS is the lead responsible for supporting and implementing the Directive.  Part of this role is to monitor adherence with the terms of this Directive.

Annual Accountability

The primary form of accountability shall be an annual report that informs FMB of departmental compliance with the Directive for the preceding fiscal year.  MBS shall produce an annual report for FMB that includes at minimum:

• The number of evaluations completed with reference to the work required by the evaluation plan;
• Progress against the evaluation plan set out in the business planning documents;
• Any deviations from the schedule and associated reasons;
• Planned actions for the next reporting period, and;
• The overall quality of evaluations being undertaken by departments and agencies with reference to CES evaluation standards and any other standard adopted by MBS or established under the Directive.

Integration with Annual Business Plans

Departments are required to include their evaluation plan in their annual business plan and report on progress against that plan as part of their regular reporting cycle.  This ensures alignment between evaluation activities and broader departmental planning and accountability processes.

Public Reporting on Evaluations and Results

Evaluations are to be considered public documents and the principles of governmental transparency demand that the default rule be the public release of evaluation reports.

Evaluations can, and do, contain information that ought not be released publicly for a variety of reasons, such as those with proprietary, sensitive, confidential, or classified information. These categories include, but are not limited to, exceptions to public disclosure provided pursuant to the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act, and cases where disclosure of non-identifying information could reasonably provide enough detail to identify an individual or individuals based on surrounding circumstances.  This is particularly true where data contain characteristics derived from individuals in the NWT’s small communities.

Therefore, the following shall be the approach to disclosure of evaluation information:

Default Rule:  Full public release

The default rule is the public release of the final evaluation report in full.

Exception:  Confidential information exists

Where a deputy head believes that a full public release in may not be appropriate, the deputy head may produce and release to the public an executive summary that provides as much information as possible while avoiding the disclosure of information that should ordinarily be kept private.