Acknowledgement to reviewers

No abstract available.

Evidence-based decision-making in the era of big data

No abstract available.

Young and emerging African evaluators’ need for gender responsive evaluation training

Background: The Global Evaluation Agenda 2020 calls for evaluation of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) within an equity-focused and gender-responsive lens. Most of the methodologies and materials come from the Global North. However, gender issues and evaluation capacity in the Global North do not necessarily match with those in the Global South. The Global South has rich experiences related to equity and gender. An important group to target to build capacity is young and emerging evaluators (YEEs).Objectives: This study investigated the gender responsive evaluation training experiences and needs of YEEs in Africa.Method: A total of 72 respondents completed an online survey that was administered over a 7-day period. The quantitative survey was self-administered in French and English, and was distributed through existing Voluntary Organisation for Professional Evaluation (VOPEs) and youth evaluators forums.Results: Respondents were from 23 African countries. Most of the respondents were YEEs, although many of the respondents did not self-identify as an YEE. One-third of respondents have participated in training programmes on gender responsive evaluation or a gender focus on evaluation. Virtual trainings have not been used. Topics included evaluating gender focussed interventions and gender responsive aspects of evaluation studies in general (including applying gender perspective to all types of policies, and participatory approaches to ensure gender equity).Conclusion: This study has practical value for training and mentoring of YEEs in gender focused evaluations in Africa. It will contribute to efforts of the South-to-South project and global efforts that ensure that ‘no one is left behind’ from a gender lens.

Erratum: The Seventh Biennial South African Monitoring and Evaluation Association Conference 2019: Shaping M&E for a sustainable future – Editorial

No abstract available.

How relationship and dialogue facilitate evidence use: Lessons from African countries

Background: This article shares lessons from four case studies, documenting experiences of evidence use in different public policies in South Africa, Kenya, Ghana and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).Objectives: Most literature on evidence use in Africa focuses either on one form of evidence, that is, evaluations, systematic reviews or on the systems governments develop to support evidence use. However, the use of evidence in policy is complex and requires systems, processes, tools and information to flow between different stakeholders. In this article, we demonstrate how relationships between knowledge generators and users were built and maintained in the case studies, and how these relationships were critical for evidence use.Method: The case studies were amongst eight case studies carried out for the book entitled ‘Using Evidence in Policy and Practice: Lessons from Africa’. Ethnographic case studies drawn from both secondary and primary research, including interviews with key informants and extensive document reviews, were carried out. The research and writing process involved policymakers enabling the research to access participants’ rich observations.Results: The case studies demonstrate that initiatives to build relationships between different state agencies, between state and non-state actors and between non-state actors are critical to enable organisations to use evidence. This can be enabled by the creation of spaces for dialogue that are sensitively facilitated and ongoing for actors to be aware of evidence, understand the evidence and be motivated to use the evidence.Conclusion: Mutually beneficial and trustful relationships between individuals and institutions in different sectors are conduits through which information flows between sectors, new insights are generated and evidence used.

Towards defining and advancing ‘Made in Africa Evaluation’

Background: Most evaluation in Africa is rooted in dominant neoliberal Western approaches. Imported Western evaluation frames may lack multicultural validity and can lead to wrong conclusions and poor development outcomes. They may also reinforce subjugation and cultural hegemony through neo-imperialism and colonisation of the imaginations of those concerned. The Made in Africa Evaluation (MAE) concept has received attention in recent years as a way to address this challenge. As a relatively nascent construct, however, interested scholars and professionals continue to seek to define and operationalise MAE more effectively.Objective: The objective of this study is to provide a working definition of MAE.Methods: We used the Delphi technique to solicit informed views from expert evaluators working in Africa. We interviewed two additional experts to triangulate and test the validity of those findings. We also tested the Delphi derived definition of MAE through the analysis of six illustrative evaluation reports. Finally, we asked the same panel of experts to complete a survey aimed at clarifying next key steps to advance the construct.Results: The results of our efforts to elucidate a concise definition of MAE yielded the following definition: Evaluation that is conducted based on African Evaluation Association (AfrEA) standards, using localised methods or approaches with the aim of aligning all evaluations to the lifestyles and needs of affected African peoples whilst also promoting African values.Conclusion: We posit that this working definition, however tentative, has the potential to influence the practice, study, and teaching of evaluation in Africa.

How to measure monitoring and evaluation system effectiveness?

Background: Although the roadblocks to development achievement in Africa emerge noticeably from resource scarcity, lack of security and good governance, or poor economic approaches, they also surface from ineffective development management practices. The monitoring and evaluation (ME) systems effectiveness assessment by the World Bank in 2007 revealed little effectiveness, mainly on cases studied in Africa.Objective: This research investigates the framework for monitoring and evaluation system effectiveness as a development management tool and shapes its measurements. It creates a framework that will help understand better the success factors of an effective ME System and how they contribute to improved development management.Methods: A trifold approach was used, which comprises three iterations — Literature review, Case Studies, and Survey. The first revisited the most relevant literature on development management and performance monitoring systems, while the second used a qualitative study of three cases in the West Africa region. The third is a survey of a sample of practitioners and managers in West Africa, where data was analysed using correlations and regressions.Results: There are significant linkages between ‘ME-System Quality’, ‘ME-Information Quality’, and ‘ME-Service Quality’. The results highlighted that the ‘Results-Based Management Practice’ of organisations, the effective ‘Knowledge and Information Management Culture’, including learning, and the ‘Evidence-Based Decision-Making Practice’ are directly influenced by effective ME System.Conclusions: Effective ME System contributes greatly to expand ‘Improved Policy and Program Design’, ‘Improved Operational Decisions’, ‘Improved Tactical and Strategic Decisions’, and ‘Improved Capability to Advance Development Objectives’.

What works for poor farmers? Insights from South Africa’s national policy evaluations

Background: Growing numbers of developing countries are investing in National Evaluation Systems (NESs). A key question is whether these have the potential to bring about meaningful policy change, and if so, what evaluation approaches are appropriate to support reflection and learning throughout the change process.Objectives: We describe the efforts of commissioned external evaluators in developing an evaluation approach to help critically assess the efficacy of some of the most important policies and programmes aimed at supporting South African farmers from the past two decades.Method: We present the diagnostic evaluation approach we developed. The approach guides evaluation end users through a series of logical steps to help make sense of an existing evidence base in relation to the root problems addressed, and the specific needs of the target populations. No additional evaluation data were collected. Groups who participated include government representatives, academics and representatives from non-governmental organisations and national associations supporting emerging farmers.Results: Our main evaluation findings relate to a lack of policy coherence in important key areas, most notably extension and advisory services, and microfinance and grants. This was characterised by; (1) an absence of common understanding of policies and objectives; (2) overly ambitious objectives often not directly linked to the policy frameworks; (3) lack of logical connections between target groups and interventions and (4) inadequate identification, selection, targeting and retention of beneficiaries.Conclusion: The diagnostic evaluation allowed for uniquely cross-cutting and interactive engagement with a complex evidence base. The evaluation process shed light on new evaluation review methods that might work to support a NES.

Table of Contents Vol 8, No 1 (2020)

No abstract available.

Acknowledgement to reviewers

No abstract available.