Evaluation at the African Development Bank dates back to 1977, though the first evaluation unit was not established until 1980, when a special division was created within the Research and Planning Department. This division became a free-standing evaluation office in 1987 attached to the President and was upgraded to the status of a department in 1995 (Operations Evaluation Department, OPEV). In 1993 the oversight responsibility for evaluation was shifted to the Board of Directors under the General Audit Committee and later placed under the oversight of the Committee on Operations and Development Effectiveness created in 1996. In 2002 the department’s mandate was further clarified by a Presidential directive. In 2007 the Board approved the first independent evaluation policy and the evaluation department’s functional responsibilities. In 2014 OPEV changed its name to Independent Development Evaluation
