Monitoring and evaluation in Africa with reference to Ghana and South Africa

Abstract

A general overview of the state of monitoring and evaluation in Africa is offered. It indicates that efforts by the World Bank, African Development Bank, Development Bank of Southern Africa and other agencies, to develop evaluation capacity alongside sweeping public sector reforms and to enhance good governance have not yet yielded the desired results. Monitoring and evaluation are still, by and large, at the nascent stage. Positive developments are emerging, but challenges remain. Zimbabwe probably provides the only example of a "mature" monitoring and evaluation system on the continent. Ghana and South Africa, however, show signs of paying serious attention to establishing monitoring and evaluation systems. On this note, the paper focuses on these countries. The approach, used is a framework of juxtapositional analysis derived from Furubo, Rist and Sandahl who examines the two countries on a number of key factors.