This presentation is co-hosted by Washington Evaluators and the Center for Learning on Evaluation and Results-Anglophone Africa (CLEAR-AA), to further promote opportunities for transnational learning and exchange.

WHEN: Aug. 21, 2019, 9-10 am ET / 3-4pm GMT+2

WHERE: Online- information provided after registration

In this webinar, practical steps will be presented towards operationalizing the ‘Made-in-Africa’  concept, that ‘African solutions’ should arise from the multiple world views of African people and African paradigms about their reality, knowledge and values. CLEAR-AA has been driving the notion that the Made in Africa Evaluation (MAE) approach should form the basis of how evaluations are practiced on the continent. In the past decades, accountability of financial resources invested by development partners and governments elevated the significance of evaluation as a practice in Africa. This is validated by the 2017 African Evaluation Database (AFRED) report for the period 2005-2015, which collated 2635 evaluation reports across 12 African countries. Despite the rising demand for evaluations witnessed in Africa, the database points to the fact that the evaluation space is still highly dominated by western expertise and research paradigms that are continually applied by assigned expatriates in the execution of evaluations on the continent. Implicit in this practice is that the African-oriented research approaches are less acknowledged within evaluation practice due to insufficient efforts to indigenise evaluations. The fact that non-African experts are assigned with technical responsibilities whilst African practitioners are dispensed with non-technical and administrative duties during evaluation assignments may be one of the factors that contribute to the limited use of evidence to inform decision making.

Presenter

Mokgophana Ramasobana is currently a Monitoring and Evaluation Officer/Researcher at CLEAR-AA in the Capacity Strengthening programmatic area. His duties include the publication of journal articles, development of course curriculum content, and implementation of evaluation capacity building interventions. Prior to joining CLEAR, Mokgophana engaged with the following sectors: Entrepreneurship; Information and Communications Technology and Research. Having been privileged to run his own business since 2010, he accrued business acumen and skills transferable to his interest in M&E. He is completing a Masters of Management, specializing in Public Sector Monitoring and Evaluation at the University of the Witwatersrand. He holds a Postgraduate Diploma in Monitoring and Evaluation and Public Management from the University of the Witwatersrand. His research interests include evaluation capacity development, African indigenous knowledge systems, and utilization of evaluation results in enhancing the African developmental agenda. He has been appointed by the Minister of Higher Education – Hon Naledi Pandor to serve as a Council Member at the Mopani TVET College for the 2019-2023 term. Additionally, he serves as the Chairperson of the Planning and Resource Committee (PLANCO) subcommittee at the same college.

Learn more about the Made in Africa Evaluation concept and Mokgophana's experience here. 

Due to webinar space constraints, attendance is currently limited to WE members and members of other AEA local affiliates. A recording of the webinar will be posted for members of WE and other AEA local affiliates.

We look forward to seeing you there!