The African M&E Hub

Permanent URI for this communityhttps://wiredspace.wits.ac.za/handle/10539/27946

The Centre for Learning on Evaluation and Results in Anglophone Africa (CLEAR-AA) is one of the six regional centers housed in academic institutions across the globe. We work to improve the way in which monitoring and evaluation is done in the Anglophone Africa region. We help clients and governments build capacity at national, regional, and local levels to measure development progress and outcomes, strengthen evidence-based policy-making, and increase government accountability and transparency.

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Twitter: @CLEARAA1 LinkedIn: CLEAR Anglophone Africa Facebook: CLEAR Anglophone Africa

Website: http://www.wits.ac.za/clear-aa

CLEAR.AnglophoneAfrica@wits.ac.za

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Author: search.filters.author.Dlakavu, AyabulelaStart date: 2020

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Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
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    VNRs and SDG Evaluations in Anglophone Africa and Latin America: A mapping of common challenges and emerging good practices.
    (2022-12) Hoffmann, Dirk; Dlakavu, Ayabulela; Retama, Karina
    One of the most distinctive features of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development lies with its detailed follow-up and review, guided by a global indicator framework and prominently reflected in Voluntary National Reviews (VNRs) submitted by governments. This discussion paper has been produced by a cross-continental Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) evaluation working group, constituted by three officials from DEval, CLEAR-AA and the Centre for Learning on Evaluation and Results-Latin America and the Caribbean (CLEAR-LAC). The primary objective of this paper is to assess the extent of use of evaluative evidence by governments when compiling their respective Voluntary National Reviews, the latter an implementation tool used to track countries’ progress and achievements vis-à-vis the SDGs. A second objective is to understand other sources of evidence that feed into the development of country VNRs. Third, the document puts forward key findings regarding evidence sources into VNRs, particularly highlighting best practices and challenges from eight sampled countries in Africa and Latin America. This paper purposively sampled four African countries in which CLEAR-AA undertakes evaluation capacity development (ECD), and four Latin American countries where CLEAR-LAC and DEval (through its Focelac+ project ) undertake or support country ECD initiatives. The discussion paper employed a research methodology consisting of an extensive desktop review of VNR, planning and public policy processes, and the state of evaluation capacities in the eight countries. The desktop review is triangulated by key informant interviews of stakeholders involved in the VNR, planning and public policy processes and national evaluation system of each country. Key findings, relative to the paper’s objectives, are as follows: performance monitoring and statistics are a primary source of evidence for VNRs across the African and Latin American countries; government and non-governmental stakeholders have not internalized the value of SDG evaluation in VNR processes and its value in terms of their own internal assessment of progress toward SDGs; limited integration of SDGs and their indicators in the countries’ public policy and national and sector planning cycles; slow response of national evaluation systems in responding to SDGs. Despite these challenges, the authors highlight key emerging best practices from the sampled countries of Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Uganda, Mexico, Costa Rica, Colombia and Ecuador that can be built upon to integrate SDG evaluation in VNR development, national and sector development planning, as well as national evaluation systems more generally. Lastly, the paper proffers key recommendations for entrenching SDGs in public policy and planning, and promoting evaluative evidence use in VNR development by stressing the value of evaluative evidence in VNR guidelines provided by United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN-DESA).
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    Transforming voluntary organisations for professional evaluation into central pillars of national evaluation systems
    (African Evaluation Journal, 2022-07-12) Fish, Tebogo; Masvaure, Steven; Dlakavu, Ayabulela; Amisi, Matodzi
    Voluntary organisations for professional evaluation (VOPEs) have proliferated across the African continent, seeking to contribute to building effective national evaluation systems (NESs) that enhance development planning, implementation and appraisal. Objectives: A study commissioned by the Centre for Learning on Evaluation and Results - Anglophone Africa (CLEAR-AA) and the African Evaluation Association (AfrEA) in 2021 highlights key strengths and challenges faced by African VOPEs in their quest to help strengthen NESs across the continent. Method: The study was qualitative by design, employing document analysis, key informant interviews and focus group discussions with selected VOPEs across Africa. Results: While African VOPEs have proliferated in number, they take different forms, and their focus tends to be shaped by their respective national contexts. A key challenge for African VOPEs is internal human and financial capacities, while the external environment within which these national evaluation associations operate also presents risks such as co-optation and opportunities such as networking and resources.
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    Strengthening VOPEs into Pillars of M&E Ecosystem
    (CLEAR-AA, 2021-06-16) Amisi, Matodzi; Masvaure, Steven; Dlakavu, Ayabulela; Fish, Tebogo