Interview Partner Evaluation Commission: “Netspar Evaluated Positively Across the Board”

A commission headed by Harman Korte evaluated Netspar on behalf of its partners. This included a review of the results achieved under the 2015-2019 Action Plan, as well as looking forward toward the aims for the 2019-2023 Action Plan.

The commission issued three main recommendations for the 2019-2023 Action Plan:

  1. Safeguard the independent identity of Netspar and present a range of visions for consideration.
  2. Study how the partners can be engaged even more effectively in the strategic decisions for the research programming.
  3. Ensure good mission alignment with compact, topic-driven activities.

Harman KorteChair of the 2018 Partner Evaluation Commission, says: “Netspar’s partners are a valuable part of its performance. Without partners, it would not work. It is therefore essential to keep those partners motivated and engaged. The evaluation process helps do that and provides concise insights. It is important to note that Netspar was evaluated positively across the board. The research, reports, events, and educational offerings were deemed to be of high quality and valuable. In reviewing its implementation of the 2015-2019 Action Plan and follow-through on the recommendations of the previous evaluation commission, we found that Netspar had been successful on every item. The challenge will be keeping it up for the next four years, so that the next commission also writes a report like this.”

“The challenge will be ensuring that the commission writes another such positive report four years from now. It’s important to keep the partners motivated.”

Recommendations
“What the partners emphasized nearly unanimously was the importance of the independent, impartial role Netspar plays: contributing to the future of the pension industry and to providers’ efforts to best support participants – around whom everything ultimately all revolves – based on facts, scientific research. It is extremely important that Netspar continue to fully embody that independent role without issuing its own opinion, using scientific evidence as the basis. For the most part, it has succeeded in that, except in a few cases. Since this point is so utterly important to the partners, that is one of the main recommendations from the evaluation commission.”

Motivated
“Something that struck me about this process was the great willingness on the part of the partners to participate in the evaluation. All of the commission members, without exception, were extremely motivated. Beyond that, even, the response rates for completing the survey or conducting an in-depth interview were very high.”

“This level of involvement is an immediate indication of what the partners think about the added value Netspar provides.”

“I can say personally that I have found Netspar to be very useful. That applies, of course, in terms of better understanding pension and retirement issues, but also to developing a relevant network. Netspar has taken important steps these past several years to improve its relationship management and written communications to sustain that high level of involvement. Its communication is in need of further attention, though: in particular, the organizational structure, the roles of the governing bodies, and the decision-making processes need to be clear and transparent and periodically evaluated. Looking forward to the goals for 2019-2023, we on the evaluation commission have confidence in the next four years.”

Read the executive summary of the partner evaluation report.

Netspar, Network for Studies on Pensions, Aging and Retirement, is a thinktank and knowledge network. Netspar is dedicated to promoting a wider understanding of the economic and social implications of pensions, aging and retirement in the Netherlands and Europe.

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