Publication: Establishing a National M&E System in South Africa
Date
2012-09
ISSN
Published
2012-09
Author(s)
Goldman, Ian
Engela, Ronette
Akhalwaya, Ismail
Gasa, Nolwazi
Leon, Bernadette
Mohamed, Hassen
Phillips, Sean
Abstract
South Africa has a number of actors with
legal or constitutional mandates for monitoring and
evaluation (M&E). There has been a major shift in
emphasis concerning M&E since 2009, partially stimulated
by a political need to improve service delivery, but also
from the extensive exposure of both technocrats and
political leadership to international experiences. As a
result, the Ministry of Performance M&E was created in
the Presidency in 2009, and the Department of Performance
M&E (DPME) in January 2010. The DPME has introduced a
number of initiatives since its establishment, including a
focus on 12 government priority outcomes; the assessment of
the quality of management performance of national and
provincial departments; a new system of monitoring
front-line services; a national evaluation system; and a
municipal performance assessment tool, which is still in
development. These tools have contributed to a major
increase in the availability of evidence for policy and
decision making. Rapid recent progress is due to strong
support at the onset from South Africa s President, learning
from international experience, and strong teams in DPME and
the National Treasury. Despite these positive developments,
significant challenges remain in ensuring the coherence of
reform initiatives conducted by central government
departments, improving administrative data quality, and
establishing M&E as a core role of management.
Citation
“Goldman, Ian; Engela, Ronette; Akhalwaya, Ismail; Gasa, Nolwazi; Leon, Bernadette; Mohamed, Hassen; Phillips, Sean. 2012. Establishing a National M&E System in South Africa. PREM Notes;No. 21. © World Bank, Washington, DC. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/17084 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”