Implementing a Government-wide Monitoring and Evaluation System in South Africa
Monitoring and evaluation (M&E) is an extremely complex, multidisciplinary and skill intensive endeavor. Government-wide M&E is even more so because it requires detailed knowledge across and within sectors, as well as of interactions among...
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Language: | English en_US |
Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2017
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Subjects: | |
Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/887221468115163336/Implementing-a-government-wide-monitoring-and-evaluation-system-in-South-Africa http://hdl.handle.net/10986/27574 |
Summary: | Monitoring and evaluation (M&E) is
an extremely complex, multidisciplinary and skill intensive
endeavor. Government-wide M&E is even more so because it
requires detailed knowledge across and within sectors, as
well as of interactions among planning, budgeting, and
implementation functions in the public sector. The situation
is complicated even further when the machinery of government
is decentralized, with powers and functions distributed
across three spheres of government. This paper outlines the
process of implementing a government-wide monitoring and
evaluation (GWM&E) system in South Africa. The first
section sketches the context that created the impetus for
establishing such a system. This context is clearly shaping
the evolution of the system and influencing its longer-term
sustainability. The second section outlines the various
stages of conceptualizing and implementing the GWM&E
system, which is currently very much a 'work in
progress.' The third section reviews international
experiences for lessons learned, which may also be germane
to the South African context, noting similarities and
differences in approach. Some of the critical implementation
factors relate to the role of political leadership and
championing of M&E, incentives for promoting usage of
M&E findings, dealing with information and data
constraints, capacity building, "ownership" of the
M&E system by line ministries and other agencies, and
managing the challenges of change. The fourth section
examines a range of challenges and difficulties encountered
in South Africa. The final section reflects on lessons
distilled from the South African experience to date. |
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