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Six countries were selected for in-depth case studies: Bolivia, Ghana, Romania, Uganda, and Vietnam - all CDF pilot countries at the time - and Burkina Faso (a non-CDF pilot). Since the main purpose of the CDF evaluation was to look at what had happened on the ground since its launch, priority was given to interested countries with the longest track record of implementation and highest performance rankings (according to the World Bank's CDF Secretariat), on grounds that these cases would offer the greatest potential for learning. One non-CDF pilot country was chosen as a control.

Because the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) is defined as an instrument for implementing the CDF principles in low-income countries, all countries selected (except Romania) were also PRSP countries. Consideration was also given to regional balance and avoiding overlap with similar evaluative efforts (such as the SPA study of PRSP implementation in eight African countries). Multi-disciplinary evaluation teams with members from developed and developing countries visited each country and carried out intensive surveys, literature reviews, focus group meetings, structured interviews, and feedback workshops. Surveys of government-donor relations, with a focus on aid transaction costs, were also carried out in the five former CDF pilot countries.

"Toward Country-led Development: a Multi-partner Evaluation of the Comprehensive Development Framework: Findings from Six Country Case Studies" is a collection of Executive Summaries of the six in-depth case studies, and provides a good illustration of on the ground experiences in implementing the CDF principles.

CDF Evaluation:Findings from Six Country Case Studie (also available in French and Spanish)