JohannesburgHilton,SouthAfrica23to27October2017 February2018

6th Biennial SAMEA ConferenceConference Report

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Table of Contents

04 10 17page page page

Introduction Planning Conferenceprogramme

27Lessonslearnt

32Feedback

37Annexes

25Strands

page

page page page

The SAMEA Conference recorded the highest number of delegates in its history –a sign of a growing profession.

Raising the bar

Introduction AboutSAMEA

Conferenceobjectives

Conferenceformat

Conferenceparticipation

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About SAMEA SAMEAaimsto:

• ProvideaplatformforinteractionandinformationsharingamongallthoseinterestedinMonitoring&Evaluation(M&E)

• Promotehighqualityintellectual,ethicalandprofessionalstandardsinM&E

• IncreasetheuseofM&Etheoryandpractice

• PromotethedevelopmentandadoptionofM&EapproachesandmethodssuitabletoaSouthAfricananddevelopmentcontext

• Promotepost-graduateeducationandcontinuingprofessionaldevelopmentinthefieldofM&E

• IncreasetheprofileofSouthAfricanM&Eatnationalandinternationallevel

• HelpbuildunderstandingofinternationaldevelopmentsandtrendsinM&E

• BearesourceonM&EinSouthAfrica

TheSouthAfricanMonitoring&EvaluationAssociation(SAMEA) strivestocultivateavibrantcommunitythatwillsupport,guideandstrengthenthedevelopmentofM&Easanimportantdiscipline,professionandinstrumentforempowermentandaccountabilityinSouthAfrica.

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Conference theme and objectives

Sincethe5th biennialSAMEAConferenceinOctober2015,theSouthAfricanenvironmenthasbeencharacterisedbytheSAGovernmentadvocatingfortheNationalDevelopmentPlan,whichisalignedtotheinternationalSustainableDevelopmentGoals(SDGs).

Thereisalsoagrowingdemandforevaluationsbydifferentsectorsforvariouspurposes.

Keystateinstitutionsanddevelopmentpartnersintendtouseevaluationevidencetomeasuredevelopmentresults.

Internationalanddomesticdebatescurrentlyemphasisetheneedforbetterqualityandrigourofevaluationwork,

clearframeworksforevaluatorcompetence,evaluationstandardsandmoreadvocacyfortheuseofevaluationevidenceforinformeddecisionmaking.

Itisagainstthisbackdrop,thatSAMEAhasdecidedontheconferencetheme:

This6th SAMEAConferenceaimedtobroadentheevaluationcommunityandincreasecommitmentamongstevaluationusersanddecision-makerstouseevidenceforinformeddecisionmaking.

Purpose-drivenMonitoringandEvaluation(M&E)

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Conference format

TheConferenceranoverfivedays,comprising2 daysofpre-conferenceprofessionaldevelopmentworkshops.Therewerefivestrandsforconferencepresentations(seeadjacent).

Threeplenarieswereheld,includingtheopeningandclosingsessions.Plenariescomprisedinternationalexpertswhosharedtheirtimeandexperiencewithparticipantsoverarangeofpractical,learningsessions.

Conferencestrands

1. StrengtheningPerformanceMonitoringSystems2. EnhancingDataManagementandVisualisation3. UsingEvidenceforDecisionMaking4. Lessonslearntfromevaluationcasestudies5. StrengtheningtheMonitoringandEvaluationProfession

“Thepresentationsattheconferencewereofhighquality,withhighprofilespeakersthatkeptattendeesengaged”– Dr VictorNaidu.

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Conference participation

XAsian

Quickconferencefacts:• 26countries• 619conference

participants• 372workshop

registrations• 5strands

TheSAMEAConferencehasbecometrulyinternational,asconferenceparticipationindicates.

Brazil

Canada

USA

Mexico

India

Malaysia

17Africancountries:1.BurkinaFaso2.Congo3.CoteD’Ivoire4.Ethiopia5.Ghana6.Kenya7.Lesotho8.Malawi

9.Namibia10.Niger11.SouthAfrica12.Senegal13.Swaziland14.Tanzania15.Uganda16.Zambia17.Zimbabwe

Lebanon

Spain

Nether-lands

The rise in M&E has necessitated the need for more purpose driven evaluations which will contribute to programmes that impact positively on the lives of people.

Towards Purpose-driven M&E

Planning Timeline

Organisingteam

Sponsors&bursars

Abstracts

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Timeline

8

July17

Aug17

Sept17

Oct17June17

March7

April17

Secondannouncement/callforpapers:20April2017Abstractsubmissionsopened:20April2017Workshopproposalssubmissionopened:20April2017

Abstractreviewscompleted:15July2017Acceptingandrejectionofabstractscompleted:24July2017Speakersnotified:28July2017Workshoppresentersnotified:28July2017

6th SAMEAConferenceheldinJohannesburg

Speakersconfirmed:7Aug2017Finalprogrammeannouncement:22Aug2017

Earlybirdcut-offdate:18September2017

Registrationopened:15June2017Abstractsubmissionsclosed:30June2017Workshopsubmissionsclosed:30June2017

Preliminarywebsiteopened:15March2017Firstannouncement:15March2017

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Organising team

Thefiveconferencestrandswereorganisedby14strandcoordinatingteams (seeAnnexAforthenamesoftheconferencechairandstrandcoordinators).

Theoutstandingleadershipprovidedbystrandco-coordinatorsinconceptualising,reviewingandmanagingthestrandscontributedtoasuccessfulevent.

Thestrandcoordinationprocessprovidedamemorablelearningexperience.

Forafourthyear,theSAMEABoardcontractedIlios Conferencestoorganiselogisticsandeventmanagement.

Ilios didanexcellentjobinsupportingtheSAMEABoard withtheirmandatetohostthe6th SAMEAConference.

Volunteersweremobilisedandbriefedtoprovidefront- andbackendsupporttowardseffectiveeventflow.

Theteamalsoknewhowtohadfunbetweenallthehardwork– asdemonstratedbyend-of-conferenceselfiesandbanterintheSecretariatoffice.

Theresourcesthatpulledtogethertheeventworkedtirelesslytowardsitssuccess.

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Sponsors

SponsorsandotherpartnersplayedacriticalroleintheConference.

Varioustypesofsponsorshipopportunitieswereavailableforthepublic,recognising thatnotallorganisations havethefinancialflexibilitytooffercashsponsorships.Cashsponsorshipincluded:

• PremiumSponsorship – R500000eachorabove• SelectSponsorship – R300000each• ClassicSponsorship – R100000each

Inadditiontocashsponsorship,thefundingstructureallowedfor:• In-kindsponsorshipsforstrandmanagementsupport andworkshop

contributions

SAMEAsecuredtheparticipationofnineconferenceexhibitors.

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SponsorsSAMEAwishestothankoursponsorsfortheircontributiontotheconference.

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Abstract management

30June2017

Strandmanagersreviewed,scoredandselected758anonymousabstractsviaIlios Conferences’digitalsystem.Theabstractswereofaveryhighstandard.

EnhancingDataManagementandVisualisation 20Lessonslearntfromevaluationcasestudies 56StrengtheningPerformanceMonitoringSystems 50StrengtheningtheMonitoringandEvaluationProfession 38UsingEvidenceforDecisionMaking 60

Acceptedabstractsperstrand

758 abstracts received

224 abstracts selected

Private sector institutions see the benefits of using evaluations to measure value for money of their corporate social investments.

Why the need for Purpose-driven M&E?

Conference programme

Workshops&posters

Parallelsessions&plenaries

Awards

Events

Technology

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Workshops & posters

Highqualityprofessionaldevelopmentworkshopsandposterssetthesceneforapurpose-drivenevent.

• 21workshopswerepresentedattheSAMEAConference(SeeAnnexBforlistofworkshopspresented)

• 24posterswerepresented

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Parallel sessions and plenariesTheopeningplenaryframedtheconferenceagainstthethemeofPurpose-drivenM&E.Severalhigh-profilespeakerspresented.

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Openingspeakersincluded:• DrArunaselam Rasappan (President,Asia-pacific

EvaluationAssociation(APEA)• DrNtsiki Tshayingca-Mashiy,DGintheDepartmentfor

Planning,Monitoring&Evaluation(DPME)intheSouthAfricanPresidency(forHonMrJeffRadebe)

Conferenceday2speakersincluded:• Openingaddress byHonSenzeni Zokwana,MinisterOf

Agriculture,Forestry& Fisheries• SaraVaca,IndependentConsultant,VisualBrains

ChairedbyDrVictorNaidu,theclosingplenaryincludedthefollowingspeackers:• Jozef Leonardus Vaessen,IEGMethodsAdvisor,World

BankGroup• Ziad Moussa,President,InternationalOrganisation For

CooperationInEvaluation(IOCE)• SummaryandclosingbyDuganFraser• Feedbackfromstrandleadersandconcludingremarks

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Events

OnWednesdayevening,29October,delegatesenjoyedaopeningcocktailduringwhichtheAfricanEvaluationAssociation(AfrEA)launchedtheYoung&EmergingEvaluators(YEE)Network.

OnThursdayevening,SAMEAhostedtheAfricanAuthorscocktail– aneventthatshowcasedtheworkofAfricanauthors,editorsandpublishers.

Twelveemergingevaluatorsweresponsoredtoattendtheconference:MiriamChikwanda,Bongiwe Pasiya,Geeta Morar,CynthiaMendoza,Onias Hlungwani,FaithChinungwe,Noleen Advani,Mkhululi Mnyaka,VeronicaMkuyamba,SchwarzenegerrKusikwenyu,Nomathamsanqa Mfundisi andNevilleMangwiro.

Authors,editorsandpublishersgatheredonThursdayeveningforthetheAfricanAuthorscocktail.

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AwardsInrecognitionofthemanypeoplewhoarecontributingtothedevelopmentoftheevaluationprofession,SAMEAheldanawardsfunctiononWednesdayevening,29October.

TheSAMEADistinguishedServiceAwardwentto:• EasternCapeSAMEAchapter:ProfEdwinIjeoma• WesternCapeSAMEAnetwork:Dr MarkAbrahams

TheSAMEAEmergingEvaluatorAwardwasawardedtothefollowingyoungevaluators:• AshleighFynn:GenesisAnalytics• KhotsoTsotsotso:CLEAR• LetitiaRambally Greener:MatCH ResearchUnit,

WitsHealth

Consortiumwasawardedinabsentia

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AwardsTheGovernmentEvaluationAwardsrecognisedbestperformanceingovernmentevaluationswiththeaimtopromoteacultureandinstitutionalisationofevaluationingovernment.Theawardscomprisedfourcategories.

Category3:Aprovincialdepartmentthathasinstitutionalised evaluationWestern Cape Department of AgricultureDr Dirk Troksie, Director: Business Planning and Strategy (Evaluation Champion)

Kwa-Zulu Natal Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional AffairsMr Manelisi Sogwagwa, Senior Manager: Evaluation (Evaluation Champion)

Category4:Anofficeofthepremierthathasinstitutionalised evaluationGauteng Office of the PremierMs Annette Griessel, DDG for Performance Monitoring and Evaluation in the Office of the Premier (Evaluation Champion)

Western Cape Department of the PremierMs Zeenat Ishmail, Chief Director: Strategic Management Information (Evaluation Champion)

Category1:AnevaluationintheDPME’sevaluationrepositorythatreceivedahigh-qualityassessmentscoreMr Edwin Moshabele, Director: Recapitalization and Development (Programme Manager)

Ms Thokozile Masangu, Director: Evaluation and Research (Evaluation Champion)

Mr Charles MachetheUniversity of Pretoria (Independent Evaluator)

Category2:Anationaldepartmentthathasinstitutionalised evaluationNational Department of Social DevelopmentMr Thabani Buthelezi, Chief Director: Monitoring and Evaluation (Evaluation Champion) , Professor in School of Agriculture & Rural Development

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Technology

Technologyapplications:

• Activesocialmediaparticipationandlivefeedingonconferencetwitterwall

• Theadoptionandengagementwiththeconferenceappallowedorganiserstovisualiseconferenceparticipationandprovidedreal-timefeedbacktodelegates

• Theconferenceappprovidedagreaterfocusoncontent.Italsoprovidedanopportunitytoinvestigatewhatattendeesfoundimportant

• Lastly,itallowedorganiserstobenchmarkwhereM&Ewaspositionedrelativetoothercountries

#samea2017

Theuseoftechnologyisparticularlyimportantinadata-drivenprofession.Thus,SAMEAprioritisedreal-timedelegatefeedbackviaatwitterwallandconferenceapp.

Non-governmental organisations and civil society groups have raised citizens’ awareness to actively participate in the evaluation process and to use evaluation evidence for accountability.

Why the need for Purpose-driven M&E?

StrengtheningPerformanceMonitoringSystems

EnhancingDataManagementandVisualisation

UsingEvidenceforDecisionMaking

Lessonslearntfromevaluationcasestudies

Strands

StrengtheningtheMonitoringandEvaluationProfession

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Strengthening performance monitoring systemsOutcome1:MonitoringandEvaluationstakeholdersfromacrosssectorshaveanimprovedunderstandingofpurposiveperformancemonitoringsystems,datamanagementanddatavisualizationforinformeddecisionmaking.

Enhancing data management and visualisationOutcome2:Evaluationusers,decision-makersandevaluationmanagers,commissioners,developmentpartnerswillhaveabetterunderstandingofhowfitforpurposemonitoringandevaluationcanbeusedforpolicy-making,oversight,accountability,andchangestointerventionsthatultimatelyleadtoefficientandeffectivedevelopment.

Using evidence for decision-makingOutcome3:Evaluatorsofalllevelswillhavedeepenedtheirknowledgeandskillstoapplypurposiveevaluationapproaches,designsandmethodsforbetterqualityevaluations.

Lessons learnt from evaluation case studiesOutcome4:TheevaluationfieldinSouthAfricaisstrengthenedthroughthedevelopmentofpurposiveM&Eframeworks,ethics,standardsandcompetencies.

Strengthening the monitoring and evaluation profession Crosscuttingthematicandkeydevelopmentareasforallstrands.

Strand outcomes

Higher education institutions have responded to more focussed evaluation efforts by offering a wide range of M&E qualifications.

Why the need for Purpose-driven M&E?

Lessons learnt Challenges

Forthefuture

Sponsors&bursars

Abstracts

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Challenges

• Theregistrationprocesswasdelayed,hencedelayedtrainingtimes.Wearelookingintodifferentwaysthattheregistrationprocesscouldbeimprovedtoavoidsuchdelaysinthefuture

• Presentersdroppedoutwithoutnotice.SAMEAwillputinplacemitigationmeasuresforthis

• Navigatingaroundtheconferencewasstillachallengeastherewasnoenoughsignagearoundtheconferencevenueandrooms.

Registrations

Cancellations

Navigation

Althoughlaudedasahighlysuccessfulconference,everyeventoffersopportunitiesforlearning.TocontinuetheimprovementofSAMEAconferences,wehavenotedandearmarkedthefollowingthreechallengestoaddressduringthenextevent:

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For the future

• Havingreal-timeupdatedconferenceprogrammeonacomputerscreenattheconferenceforthosethatcannotaccesstheapp

• Continueimprovingandusingtheconferenceapptocaterforourdelegates

• Usingtechnologytorecordtheconferenceanddevelopliveconferencepresentations

• Usingstrandsastopicalinterestgroupstocontinuethediscussionpost-conference

• Inclusionoffreenetworkingsessionsliketheauthors’night,techsalonatfutureevents

• TheneedforhavingSAMEAchaptersworkingwithuniversitiesinthechapterstostrengthenM&Ecapacity

ThenewSAMEAwebsitewillbelaunchedinthefirstquarterof2018

InlinewithourvisiontomakeeachSAMEAConferencebetter,weidentifiedsixactivitiesforthefuture.Thesecouldbebroadlythemedastechnology&innovation,post-eventconversationanduniversityengagementinSAMEAchapters.

technology&innovation

post-eventconversation

universityengagementinSAMEAchapters

“The conference facilitates discussions on fresh thinking to achieve purpose-driven evaluation congruent with the development agenda – let’s continue to think about this critically” –Dr NtsikiTshayingca-Mashiya (DPME).

Towards Purpose-driven M&E

Feedback

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Workshop feedbackAwordcloudsummarisingattendants’impressionsoftheSAMEAworkshops:

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Emerging themesStrandcoordinatorsprovidedfeedbackonthethedifferentstrandsessions,whichresultedinidentifyingthefollowingdominantthemes:

1. TheimportanceofdataqualityinarobustM&Esystem

2. Theuseofadynamictheoryofchangeasaconceptualtoolinevaluations

3. Datavisualisation topresentdatamorecreativelyandaccessibly

4. Thefocusonevaluationtrainingonpractical“how-toskills”

5. StrengtheningdataanalysisinM&Ereports

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Strand feedbackSpecificfeedbackfromstrandcoordinatorsontheirsessions,arecapturedbelow:

“Thereisnosingleschemaorframeworkthathasproventobetheidealmodeltofollowtosupportevidenceuse. Inallcasesandexamplespresented,itappearedthatsomeformofhybridisrequired.Thisreinforcestheideathatcontextmattersinevidenceuse,andevaluators(andevaluands)needtobeintentionalaboutunderstandingcontextualissuesaspartofensuringtheeffectiveuseofevidence.”

Fromstrand:Usingevidencefordecision-makingFeedbackbystrandcoordinator:Dr RuthStewart

“ThepurposeofanM&Esystemisgroundedinthebeliefsystemandphilosophyofanorganisation.Understandingthiswillhelpyoulocateyourrolewithinthesystem,andwhattheappropriateactionsarethatyouneedtotake.”

Fromstrand:StrengtheningperformancemonitoringsystemsFeedbackbystrandcoordinators:Ms Fazeela Hoosen &Mr Asgar Bhikoo

Ending on a high note

All in all, the 6th SAMEA Conference was a major success. Thought provoking discussions took place amongst a record number of delegates, which sets the tone for an exciting 7th SAMEA Conference in 2019.

Annexes

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Annex A: Strand leaders

AspecialwordofthankstoDr VictorNaidu,theConferenceChair.

Strand1: Ms Fazeela Hoosen &Mr Asgar BhikooStrand2: Mr Taurai Bwerinofa &

Ms Jerusha GovenderStrand3: Ms Alyna Wyatt,Dr RuthStewart&

Ms Sunet JordaanStrand4: Mr AntonioHercules,Ms Seirah Ngcobo &

Dr IanGoldmanStrand5: Dr DonnaPodems &Dr LaurenWildschut

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Annex B: Workshop list

Conference presentations

All presentations from the 6th SAMEA Conference is available on the conference website at: http://sameaconference.co.za/presentations/