Developing South Africa’s national evaluation policy and system: First lessons learned

Abstract

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 and are made public. So far 39 evaluations have been completed or are underway, covering around R50 billion (approximately $5 billion) of government expenditure over a three-year expenditure framework. There is evidence that the first evaluations to be completed are having significant influence on the programmes concerned. The big challenge facing South Africa is to increase capacity of service providers and government staff so as to be able to have more and better quality evaluations taking place outside of as well as through the DPME.

The emergence of government evaluation systems in Africa: The case of Benin, Uganda and South Africa

“…Table 3 summarises the timeline of emergence of the system following approval of the NEPF. Goldman et al (2015) describes this development. Table 3 gives the timeline of key elements of South Africa's NES, following from adoption of the NEPF in 2011.…”

“…In 2011, an Evaluation and Research Unit (ERU) was established in DPME to develop and run the evaluation system, which as of December 2016 had 16 staff. Phillips et al (2014) discuss the development of DPME, and Goldman et al (2015) the emergence of the NES from 2011.…”

Indigenising Evaluation Knowledge: Exploring the Epistemic Identity of African Evaluators

“…The second is that this growth in systems and mandate has not always been matched by an equivalent growth in capacity to implement, so there has been unevenness in implementation. Finally, there are limitations in expanding both the supply of professional evaluators and the public sector demand for evaluation due to a mismatch between supply and demand in the region (Goldman, Mathe, Jacob, Hercules, Amisi, Buthelezi, Narsee, Ntakumba & Sadan, 2015). This mismatch is still being understood and demands stronger empirical foundations to be interrogated effectively.…”

Using evidence to inform the scale-up and adoption of biofortified orange sweet potato in Uganda

“…According to a recent report on South Africa's national evaluation system, there is evidence of significant follow-up on some of the first NEP evaluations that have been completed. 21 However, despite encouraging results, some departments have delayed producing and reporting on improvement plans. The report highlights the relevance of the political dynamics in the sector for implementing lessons from certain evaluations.…”