Evaluability of the National Five-year Development Plans of the Islamic Republic of Iran; The Engine for The Implementation

The 5-year plans of the Islamic Republic of Iran are not evaluable. Despite varied reasons for the non-implementation of plans, the way they were formulated played a significant role. Evaluability in policy formulation requires regular structuring of policy levels, clear objectives, measurable indicators, evaluable tasks, clear responsibilities, and a chapter dedicated to evaluation rules. With the abovementioned features, it will be possible to analyze the reality of the plan before approval, monitor the progress of the plan clause-by-clause during execution, and conduct an evaluation of the plan’s implementation thoroughly. Based on the evaluation process, in addition to generating transparent data from the execution, the evaluation of the responsible institutions, as public demand, will also be possible, and it will create a set of data that will provide a good guide for the following 5-year plans. This article offers specific recommendations for the evaluable formulation of the plans based on the policy evaluation literature and the experiences of the previous plans.