After outlining recent developments in the United Nations system with regard to the growing role of evaluation, this article provides an overview on how evaluation was considered in the international policy debates that took place in 2015 to shape the new agenda, and the role evaluation should play during the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Furthermore, it outlines how efforts at the global, national and local level to strengthen evaluation can be made more effective.