Few assessments are critical of the purposes and goals of intergovernmental organizations as they seek to advance adult education for national development. This paper seeks to clarify connections among policy, planning, and evaluation, especially as associated with intergovernmental strategies for the development of adult education. In doing so, the author argues first that the advancement of adult education policy leads inevitably to "system," i.e., integration into public (government-mandated) educational systems. Secondly, manpower development is examined as an adult education planning strategy and found limited; in this regard, the "cultural" approach to planning is reviewed. Evaluation is then analyzed not as a process or tool but as an expression of the values underlying policy and planning. Accordingly, the focus of intergovernmental agency evaluations on cost statistics is criticized as an inadequate measure of the merit of adult educational programs. While intended as a review and critique of these intergovernmental strategies, this paper hopes to draw further attention to national issues in adult education and to foster consideration of the impact of international strategies on adult educational policy, planning, and evaluation. (Author/KC)