On 30th May 2023, over 70 participants attended the gLOCAL session titled, “Moving forward together: The benefits of the Twende Mbele initiative on M&E practice in Africa,” organized by the Independent Evaluation Function (IDEV) of the African Development Bank Group (AfDB), in partnerships with the Twende Mbele Secretariat. During this session, representatives from Benin, Ghana, and Uganda shared their experiences in building and sustaining peer-learning collaborations to strengthen their national Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) systems and improve development outcomes.
In her opening remarks, Karen Rot-Münstermann, the AfDB Evaluator General noted, “this session allows us to learn, unlearn, and relearn from experience, based on evidence of what works and what doesn't work within this ecosystem." She added that effective national M&E systems not only ensure that the right development interventions are implemented but also promote national ownership and sustainability of those interventions' results. Building these systems calls for strong and sustained partnerships at the national, regional, and global levels, which inspired the decision to focus the session on the Twende Mbele initiative.
Twende Mbele, which means "moving forward together" in Swahili, is a South-South peer-learning platform among African governments that seeks to achieve a paradigm shift towards evidence-based decision-making. The initiative involves six core country partners: Benin, Ghana, Kenya, Niger, South Africa, and Uganda; with two regional evaluation capacity development partners (CLEAR Anglophone Africa and IDEV). In addition, eight other countries actively form part of the wider learning network.
Some of the successes of this initiative as highlighted by the Twende Mbele Program Manager, Dr. Ayabulela Dlakavu included: the formation of partnerships with countries to conduct evaluations of interventions that transverse the sustainable development goals (SDGs); adaption of good M&E practices by countries within the fraternity (Uganda and Benin adopted South Africa’s management assessment tools for its government departments); M&E training conducted for parliamentarians and over 200 government officials in evidence-based policy making; integrating civil society organizations into national M&E systems; supported efforts for the development of a Pan-African M&E competence framework and collaborative curriculum with African universities.
Dr. Dlakavu emphasized that the initiative contributed to the development and adaption of several M&E policies, strategies, and tools which helped build institutional capacity and strengthen the formation of an M&E culture. However, there was still a need for countries, based on their contexts to prioritize practical and achievable strategies integrated into their national systems and planning frameworks, build a critical mass of M&E champions, seek political support, involve more policymakers (parliamentarians), and employ communication strategies for disseminating the findings.
Dr. Nadege Djossou from Benin highlighted some of the tools the country adopted from South Africa such as the rapid evaluation methodology, gender-sensitive evaluation guide, and the communications strategy for evaluation.
Commissioner Timothy Lubanga from Uganda noted that the initiative contributed to mechanisms to develop a robust M&E strategy for Uganda's National Development Plan. “When we were starting this initiative, many of the countries were at different stages of the necessary systems, tools, and even policies or structures. Through sharing and learning, Uganda was able to develop a very strong M&E strategy for its National Development Plan. That is a critical addition and value from participating in the Twende Mbele initiative,” he said.
Dr. Andrew Asibey from Ghana revealed that when Ghana joined Twende Mbele, many ministries had policy planning and M&E units, but they lacked the requisite capacity. Consequently, Ghana focused on enhancing its capacities through this collaboration.
Dr. Dlakavu concluded that “partnerships, as noted in UN Sustainable Development Goals - SDG 17, are the bedrock upon which the other goals can be achieved. We need more partnerships with evaluation and capacity development stakeholders at sub-sector and sub-national levels, and with development partners such as the African Parliamentarian Network on Development Evaluation (APNODE) and others. Of course, we need to advocate for greater use of M&E evidence to lead to the domestication and implementation of global and regional development agendas."
Going forward, he noted that the initiative hopes to diversify its funding approach, lead an expansion drive every three years, and seek more political buy-in from member countries.
For more information about Twende Mbele initiative, please visit the website at https://twendembele.org/