Role of Evaluation Associations in promoting Evaluation Rosetti Nabbumba Nayenga President Uganda Evaluation Week 2016

Points: Why the concern? Global landscape UEA Role of Evaluation societies Dissemination of evaluation findings Readiness 2

Why the concern? Evaluation culture and practice is low in most African countries The will and capacity to undertake, disseminate and use quality evaluations is growing but still low Governments alone cannot address these challenges Voluntary Organisations for Professional Evaluations (VOPEs) could be influential partners 3

Defining VOPEs Evaluation Associations or Societies established by evaluation practitioners to share professional experiences, build national evaluation capacities, contribute to policy and programme development with the ultimate aim of improving people’s welfare. Source: Natalie Kosheleva and Marco Segone 4

Global growth of VOPEs The number of national and regional VOPEs rose from 15 in 1990s to more than 155 in 2013 Most VOPEs focused on skills development and strengthening own institutional capacity Source: Jim Rugh, EvalPartners mapping survey 5

UEA Genesis: Established in 2001 as national chapter of African Evaluation Association (AFREA) Vision: “To be the leading professional evaluation association in Uganda” Mission: “To promote the practice, use quality and ethics of M&E in Uganda’s development process”. 6

UEA Objectives 1)Building professional capacity in monitoring and evaluation 2)Creating a national network to facilitate knowledge sharing 3)Promoting professionalism through standards and guidelines 4)Promoting regional and international exchanges among evaluation institutions 5)Promoting global collaboration and networking 6)Fostering links between civil society, government and private sector in the evaluation field. 7

Key Achievements: Systems, Capacity Growth in membership to about 160 paid up plus over 400 non-paid up Strategic plan ended; new plan is being prepared Over 300 members trained in M&E Uganda Evaluation Standards 2013 Functional website Continuous information dissemination to members on new methods, practices, consultancies, conferences 8

Key Achievements: Systems, Capacity Over 20 monthly Kampala Evaluation Talks held Members benefitting from long term courses at UTAMU Co-hosting evaluation weeks with OPM Governance structures in place; regular AGMs, election of leaders Regional and international networking 9

Success factors Partnerships with office of the Prime Minister, Uganda Management Institute, Uganda Christian University, Ministry of Finance, GIZ, World Bank, USAID, UTAMU Affiliation with international bodies like AFREA, IOCE Membership subscription Improved governance 10

Role of evaluation societies going forward Evaluation bodies should expand the circle of influence beyond a few national partners South to South cooperation between VOPEs; regional networks Tap into opportunities offered by AFREA, IOCE, IPDET, EVALpartners, IDEAS Purpose to support Governments to better conduct, disseminate and use evaluations to improve development conditions 11

Path of influence for VOPEs Capacity development of members to undertake evaluation Working closely with Commissioners to improve Terms of Reference, demand for evaluation Working with national Governments to promote a culture of evaluation Influencing national policies and programmes, disseminating findings, advocacy for change Quality Assurance, Accreditation 12

Dissemination of evaluation findings For effective dissemination and use: – Stakeholders must have expressed need; been aware of the evaluation and its purpose early; their interests and priorities matter – Evaluations should be conducted with a focus on use (utilization focused evaluations) Source: Dr. Micheal Quinn Patton and Chelladurai Solomon 13

Dissemination of evaluation findings Should have a dissemination, communication and advocacy plan for the evaluations What change do we seek? Policy change? Organisational development; improvement in resource allocation; better service delivery? The quality of evaluation determines its usability. VOPEs can partner with Governments to address all these issues. 14

Readiness To what extent are Governments ready to share space with VOPEs to promote evaluation use? How ready are VOPEs to engage meaningfully? VOPEs should identify their own path of growth; pursue it and work on equal partnership with key stakeholders including Government 15

16 A community of practice Effectively Influencing Evaluation Management in the Country. Private & public sector stakeholders collaborate with UEA Firms and individuals utilize built capacity Strengthened Capacity is sustained A practice of high quality evaluation in public and private programs throughout the country cherished Capacity of individuals, firms and organisations in M&E built through formal and informal training, and skills exchange Institutional capacity of UEA strengthened Conduct partnership meetings with MDAs, CSOs,  Develop policy briefs for sharing with stakeholders  Form networks to advise on quality of evaluations Conduct partnership meetings with MDAs, CSOs,  Develop policy briefs for sharing with stakeholders  Form networks to advise on quality of evaluations  Conduct a member’s TNA  Conduct monthly KET  Identify and network with established experts  Conduct regular members training events  Conduct regular visits to academic institutions  Design an apprenticeship programme  Develop CPD tools  Conduct a member’s TNA  Conduct monthly KET  Identify and network with established experts  Conduct regular members training events  Conduct regular visits to academic institutions  Design an apprenticeship programme  Develop CPD tools  Develop a resource mobilization strategy  Establish an electronic document management system  Update the UEA website,  Review the organizational structure  Conduct UEA stakeholders mapping.  Develop UEA membership policy UEA Theory of Change

Expected outcomes Strong national evaluation association – Conducting research and evaluations in partnership with Government – Uganda Evaluation Journal – Influencing public policies and plans in collaboration with Government to enhance development results – Competence framework – Legal framework – Accreditation of evaluators 17

Conclusion Evaluation Associations can be influential partners in promoting evaluation use Evaluation use should be focused on enhancing service delivery, poverty reduction, wealth creation Both Government and Evaluation Associations should review and enhance their readiness to engage meaningfully Universities are depositories of knowledge, capacity – we should form alliances with them for purposes of promoting evaluation production and use.