Policies for evidence: a comparative analysis of Africa’s national evaluation policy landscape (original) (raw)
Related papers
The National Evaluation Policy Landscape in Africa: A Comparison
2018
The National Evaluation Policy landscape in Africa: A comparison The demand for National Evaluation Policies (NEPs) has gained traction in Africa as more countries acknowledge the value of evaluation in enhancing efficiency, effectiveness, and equity in public and development management. As these countries implement developmental programmes and projects they require appropriate and effective monitoring and evaluation systems to measure performance, assess impact and draw lessons for future programmes and projects. Similarly, the Sustainable Development Goals call for country-led systems to measure effectiveness, efficiency, relevance, sustainability, and the impact of development interventions.
The emergence of government evaluation systems in Africa: The case of Benin, Uganda and South Africa
African Evaluation Journal
Background: Evaluation is not widespread in Africa, particularly evaluations instigated by governments rather than donors. However since 2007 an important policy experiment is emerging in South Africa, Benin and Uganda, which have all implemented national evaluation systems. These three countries, along with the Centre for Learning on Evaluation and Results (CLEAR) Anglophone Africa and the African Development Bank, are partners in a pioneering African partnership called Twende Mbele, funded by the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID) and Hewlett Foundation, aiming to jointly strengthen monitoring and evaluation (M&E) systems and work with other countries to develop M&E capacity and share experiences.Objectives: This article documents the experience of these three countries and summarises the progress made in deepening and widening their national evaluation systems and some of the cross-cutting lessons emerging at an early stage of the Twende Mbele partne...
________________________________________________________ The primary objective of this study was to develop a theoretical framework to facilitate planning and strategising for effective evaluation uptake by policy and decision – makers in the health sector. Theory of change (ToC) was proposed as the framework for linking evaluation with policy-makers strategy. The intention was to explore strategies for placing AfREA members at the centre of the 'evaluation for sustainable development in Africa' discourse and practice. The ToC that emerged from this study was the programme logic or logic model. The key findings were that (a) there are guiding principles such as national ownership of evaluation and development processes that have a bearing on evaluation uptake, and (b) that ultimate outcomes were not evaluated despite the fact that impact evaluation was part of the implementation plan, and (c) if applied correctly, a theory of change can provide appropriate and relevant strategies to link evaluation with policy-makers.
A stakeholder view of the development of national evaluation systems in Africa
2020
vidence for policy-informed decision-making, budgeting and programming. National evaluation systems (NESs) are being set up across Africa, together with the processes and other monitoring and evaluation (ME the functioning of parliamentary ME professionalisation of evaluation and existence of an enabling environment. A questionnaire was used to collect information based on the key dimensions from government and non-governmental personnel. The Mo Ibrahim index of 2018 was used to collect information on enabling environment. Results: Findings indicate that all systems have stakeholders with different roles and contexts and are designed according to the state architecture, prevailing resources and capacities. Conclusions: This article concludes that the findings can be used as different entry points for developing and strengthening M&E capacities in countries studied.
Developing South Africa’s national evaluation policy and system: First lessons learned
African Evaluation Journal, 2015
This article describes the development of the national evaluation system in South Africa, which has been implemented since 2012, led by the Department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation (DPME, previously the Department of Performance Monitoring and Evaluation) in the Presidency. It suggests emerging results but an evaluation of the evaluation being carried out in 2015 will address this formally. Responding to dissatisfaction with government services, in 2009 the government placed a major emphasis on monitoring and evaluation (M&E). A ministry and department were created, initially focusing on monitoring but in 2011 developing a national evaluation policy framework, which has been rolled out from 2012. The system has focused on improving performance, as well as improved accountability. Evaluations are proposed by national government departments and selected for a national evaluation plan. The relevant department implements the evaluations with the DPME and findings go to Cabinet ...
Zambia’s Experience in Building Capacity for Evaluation
Zambia joined the rest of the world in celebrating the International Year of Evaluation on 3rd November 2015. At the same event, the Zambia Monitoring and Evaluation Association was launched. The theme of the event was ‘Appreciating the need for evaluation’. The evaluation issues discussed at the event are common to all developing nations, especially in Africa where we are trying to develop national evaluation capacities. Therefore, this is an effort to share some of the experiences of Zambia in developing evaluations and thoughts on the future of evaluations in Zambia that were touched on during the event. The evaluation community of other countries may find them useful. The author intends to review the developments in Zambia related to capacity building in evaluations. To be shared are the following: i. Zambia’s experience in developing a national-led governance evaluation system; ii. developing a national evidence based policy and decision making system by the Ministry of Finance; iii. the supply and demand of evaluations in Zambia; iv. developing the profession capacity; and v. the role of the state, civil society including the national evaluation association and cooperating partners in enhancing the value of evaluations in making a better society.
Measuring the effect of Evaluation Capacity Building Initiatives in Africa: A review
African Evaluation Journal
Background: The growing demand for evidence to support policy decisions, guide resource allocation and demonstrate results has elevated the need for expertise in monitoring and evaluation (M&E). Despite the mushrooming of short courses in M&E, their impact on improving the capacity to meet the demand has not been adequately and comprehensively measured or evaluated. The purpose of this article was to highlight the need for improving the measurement of evaluation capacity building (ECB) to better understand what works in building M&E capacity in Africa.Objectives: This article provides important insights into the need for empirical and rigorous measurement of ECB interventions and their role in strengthening evaluation practice.Method: The study was primarily a desktop review of existing literature, corroborated by a survey of a few senior representatives of organisations responsible for capacity building across the African continent.Results: The review found that there remains littl...
African Evaluation Journal
Background: South Africa has pioneered national evaluation systems (NESs) along with Canada, Mexico, Colombia, Chile, Uganda and Benin. South Africa’s National Evaluation Policy Framework (NEPF) was approved by Cabinet in November 2011. An evaluation of the NES started in September 2016.Objectives: The purpose of the evaluation was to assess whether the NES had had an impact on the programmes and policies evaluated, the departments involved and other key stakeholders; and to determine how the system needs to be strengthened.Method: The evaluation used a theory-based approach, including international benchmarking, five national and four provincial case studies, 112 key informant interviews, a survey with 86 responses and a cost-benefit analysis of a sample of evaluations.Results: Since 2011, 67 national evaluations have been completed or are underway within the NES, covering over $10 billion of government expenditure. Seven of South Africa’s nine provinces have provincial evaluation ...