From evidence to values-based decision making in African parliaments

Abstract

<jats:p> Monitoring and Evaluation discourse in Africa has evolved to focus on building systems at a national level. While this systemic approach has many advantages, its implementation often runs up against the uncomfortable reality that governments have complex incentives to use evidence, and this evidence can equally contribute to decision making that is neither development-focused nor democratic if values are not part of the conversation. Much of the literature on public-sector reform focuses on evidence-based policy making. While relevant, it does not reflect on values, and this article will argue that acknowledging the central role values play in interpreting evidence is critical to effective national evaluation system building. To make this argument, this article will present and discuss vignettes from the parliaments of Malawi, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe that illustrate the pivotal role values have played in interpreting and acting on evidence in a parliamentary context. Finally, it makes a case for the discourse about evidence-based policy making to consider values-based policy making as an appropriate lens for parliaments to acknowledge and engage with the complex landscape of the politics of evidence. </jats:p>

A synthesis of parliamentary institutions and evidence use

“…Research Services (PRS) in the Parliament of Kenya, are spread 'too thin'. This is a common concern of parliamentary research staff and support services who play a critical responsive role in institutions that are nearly universally underresourced (Rotberg & Salahub, 2013;Blaser Mapitsa & Ali, 2020).…”

Functional interaction between public bodies

“…It is worth mentioning that the constitutional texts of the studied group of countries with a bicameral structure of parliament provide for various forms of cooperation between the chambers (Nikonova et al, 2017). In the legal doctrine, the problems concerning the parliaments of African countries were developed in connection with the study of women's representation in parliaments (Bauer, 2012;Enaifoghe, 2019), in the context of consideration of regional parliamentary bodies of Africa (Jancic, 2019), and their influence on the basis of state policy in the field of gender equality (Nijzink et al, 2006), in the course of the analysis of decisions taken by African parliaments (Ertan, 2020), in the analysis of democratic foundations (Blaser Mapitsa et al, 2020). Note that a separate study related to identifying the interaction forms among the chambers of parliament in Central Africa has not been carried out.…”