Wits School of Governance (ETDs)

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    Roles of stakeholders in strengthening national monitoring and evaluation systems in South Africa
    (University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023) Hlaise-Msimang, Mehloti Candy; Blaser – Mapitsa,C.
    The involvement of different stakeholders in policy formulation, accountability activities and advocacy for improved service delivery has been viewed as a mark of good governance and a critical mechanism indicator for democracy. However, with the establishment of country -led monitoring and evaluation system, stakeholder engagement has been noted to be weak, fragmented and even as tokenism thus rendering the process mute. A qualitative study was therefore undertaken to investigate the roles played by various stakeholders in the development, institutionalization and sustainability of the South African National Evaluation System. Using semi-structured interviews, the study drew from the expertise of evaluations practitioners and government officials with varying levels of knowledge and experiences of the South Africa national evaluation system. The findings of the study indicated that deliberate efforts of the DPME, as a central coordinating unit, facilitated the mobilization and collaboration with other government departments including the National School of Government, parliamentarians, fostered partnerships with SAMEA – VOPE, academic institutions and evaluation experts such as CLEAR-AA . The inclusion of civil society organizations played a significant role in influencing policy by providing inputs on government interventions and sharing context informed data about service delivery in communities. Although there were systematic and institutional challenges, the study findings also revealed that stakeholders were able to strengthen the NES in three spheres which are: i) providing M&E training, funding, evaluation data and support tools, ii) improving policies to assist in the successful implementation of NES and iii) advocating for accountability in NES. This further reinforced the need to work collaboratively with different stakeholders that foster good governance, build capacity with a balance of the theoretical underpinnings and evaluation experience supported by political vision and senior managers who set the right institutional culture that is agile and responsive to the country’s context and development goals/aspirations will strengthen the NES