Designing diagnostics in complexity: Measuring technical and contextual aspects in monitoring and evaluation systems
African Evaluation Journal
| Field | Value | |
| Title | Designing diagnostics in complexity: Measuring technical and contextual aspects in monitoring and evaluation systems | |
| Creator | Blaser Mapitsa, Caitlin Korth, Marcel T. | |
| Description | Background: This article emphasizes the importance of reflecting on the methods employed when designing diagnostic tools for monitoring and evaluation (ME) systems. It sheds light on a broader debate about how we understand and assess ME systems within their political and organisational contexts.Objectives: The article looks at what divergent purposes of ME mean for how ME systems are assessed, and how context-appropriate diagnostic studies can be designed.Method: The article draws on two different approaches: a survey that looks at the technical components of an ME system and a complexity framework that analyses the way a system functions in a broader political and organisational context. The foundation is provided by survey and interview data from over 70 officials from across the City of Johannesburg’s administration.Results: The study revealed great diversity as to respondents’ understanding of what ME structures and processes should do and achieve within the city, ranging from a management function closely linked to auditing and oversight responsibilities to a governance role that is more linked to learning and planning. Limitations in ME capacity and/or performance were linked to contested political and bureaucratic structures.Conclusion: The mixed method approach to diagnostics proposed in this article contributes to the call in the ‘Made in Africa’ debate for more contextualised methods and tools around the practice and the assessment of ME. The article proposes the development of a synthetic tool that covers both ME technical components and capacity on one hand, and an analysis of how these are embedded in a political and organisational context on the other. | |
| Publisher | AOSIS | |
| Date | 2017-04-28 | |
| Identifier | 10.4102/aej.v5i1.196 | |
| Source | African Evaluation Journal; Vol 5, No 1 (2017); 5 pages 2306-5133 2310-4988 | |
| Language | eng | |
| Relation |
The following web links (URLs) may trigger a file download or direct you to an alternative webpage to gain access to a publication file format of the published article:
https://aejonline.org/index.php/aej/article/view/196/338
https://aejonline.org/index.php/aej/article/view/196/337
https://aejonline.org/index.php/aej/article/view/196/339
https://aejonline.org/index.php/aej/article/view/196/312
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