Mere compliance or learning – how is M&E culture in the public service affecting the response to COVID

Mere compliance or learning – how is M&E culture in the public service affecting the response to COVID
This chapter builds on research on the performance monitoring and evaluation (M&E) culture in Benin, Uganda and South Africa conducted through the Twende Mbele African M&E partnership, which is presented here to provide a context for the cases in the book.
The research was conducted on approximately five national departments per country and 368 managers were interviewed: 149 from Benin, 127 from South Africa, and 92 from Uganda. We see a mixed picture and many similarities in the three countries.
Overall, all three have significant planning and monitoring systems and an established evaluation system. Around half of managers are seen to be using evidence from M&E, with evaluations used particularly in an ex-post role rather than during the life of interventions. The effect of each country’s national evaluation system is recognised. However, there is also evidence of negative behaviour, using reports to conceal information, not interrogating the cause of failure. The survey is itself a baseline for Twende Mbele and the trends in these figures will be interesting.
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Building a robust M&E System: Getting political buy-in on the use of evaluation (Webinar)

Building a robust M&E System: Getting political buy-in on the use of evaluation (Webinar)
Monitoring and evaluation (M&E) are at the center of sound governance arrangements. They are necessary for the achievement of evidence-based policy making, budget decisions, management, and accountability. There is no “best” model of what a government M&E system should look like. Much depends on which of the several potential uses of M&E information constitute the main reasons for building such a system.
But in order for all of this to happen, political buy-in has to be sought and obtained. Demand from governments is crucial for the utilization of M&E information and for the ongoing funding of M&E activities. Thus, it is necessary to secure the buy-in of the key stakeholders such as government ministers or finance ministries if substantive effort is to be put into creating, strengthening, or funding M&E functions. This webinar will explore how political buy-in for M&E looks in different country contexts.
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African Evaluation Studies Database
Launched at the African Evaluation Association conference in March 2017, the African Evaluation Database (or AfrED for short), is a treasure trove of evaluation studies from the English-speaking African world.