An anniversary is a logical time to look back and reflect on lessons from the past, while also looking ahead. That is exactly what the Policy and Operations Evaluation Department (IOB) of the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs did when it celebrated its 40th anniversary with a Lustrum Symposium ‘Changing directions in foreign policy – IOB at 40: learning for performance’. Bringing together policymakers, evaluators and knowledge workers, this event provided an opportunity to discuss ways forward for policy evaluation.

By the beginning of 2016, The Broker had switched from pro-actively supplying knowledge to responding more to the needs and demands of those involved in global development policy and national policies with global consequences. The results of this transition have now been published in our 2016 annual report.