Scoping the impact evaluation capacity in sub-Saharan Africa

African Evaluation Journal

 
 
Field Value
 
Title Scoping the impact evaluation capacity in sub-Saharan Africa
 
Creator Erasmus, Yvonne Jordaan, Sunet Stewart, Ruth
 
Subject Impact evaluations; Evidence-informed decision-making Impact evaluation capacity; Sub-Saharan Africa; Evidence-informed decision making; Impact evaluation training; Impact evaluation publication; Survey; Research methods
Description Background: There has long been an assumption that Africa has low levels of impact evaluation capacity and that when impact evaluations are conducted in the region, they need to be led and conducted by researchers from the North. The Africa Centre for Evidence at the University of Johannesburg conducted a scoping study on impact evaluation capacity in sub-Saharan Africa to test this assumption.Methodology: We used a multicomponent design, which included a systematic author search, desk review, online survey (with 353 respondents) and key informant discussions.Results: Contrary to previous assumptions, we found a large number of researchers with impact evaluation capacity across sub-Saharan Africa. We identified 490 impact evaluation publications, to which 1520 unique African researchers from 34 countries had contributed. South Africa had the most impact evaluation researchers who had published, followed by Kenya and Uganda, illustrating a concentration of capacity in Southern and Eastern Africa. Authors largely resided within schools of public health and health science faculties at universities. The study showed that modules and elements of impact evaluation training had been offered in 32 countries, indicating more training opportunities than anticipated, although formal, accredited training in impact evaluation was mostly presented outside Africa.Conclusion: Contrary to previous assumptions, widespread capacity to conduct impact evaluations exists in sub-Saharan Africa, reducing the need for researcher capacity from the Global North to deliver impact evaluations in the region. However, our evidence suggests that capacity gaps exist in non-health sectors, creating an opportunity for further capacity support in these areas.
 
Publisher AOSIS
 
Contributor The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation
Date 2020-10-23
 
Type info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion — Multi-component design; Systematic author search; Desk review; Online survey; Key informant discussions
Format text/html application/epub+zip text/xml application/pdf
Identifier 10.4102/aej.v8i1.473
 
Source African Evaluation Journal; Vol 8, No 1 (2020); 11 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/473/881 https://aejonline.org/index.php/aej/article/view/473/880 https://aejonline.org/index.php/aej/article/view/473/882 https://aejonline.org/index.php/aej/article/view/473/879
 
Coverage Sub-Saharan Africa — —
Rights Copyright (c) 2020 Yvonne Erasmus, Sunet Jordaan, Ruth Stewart https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
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