Blogs

By Sive Yami (SAMEA EE Coordinator)

There has been a lot of engagement around creating a cadre of evaluators within the continent and South Africa being no exception. However, there hasn’t been action, and if there has been – it was not documented. In 2021, the South African Monitoring and Evaluation Association (SAMEA) embarked on recruiting Emerging Evaluators (EEs) as part of the EE Internship Programme. They were hosted by selected institutions who provided the interns with skills in M&E and to increase their employability.

By Mark Abrahams (Southern Hemisphere)

At Southern Hemisphere we often utilise the ‘journey metaphor’ when discussing the elements of a project cycle and mapping the evaluation journey. Similarly, you are invited to consider a journey, your journey beyond Made in Africa Evaluation.

By World Food Programme (WFP)

THEY ARE YOUNG, TALENTED AND READY TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE. Meet Yeukai Caroline Tizora, Isabel Malandu Mukali, Mayibongwe Mncube, Stephan Paulsen, Sonny Motlanthe and Samukelisiwe Mkhize.

By Benita Williams

On 13 May 2020, SAMEA launched the EduCOVID Topical Interest Group via zoom. The TIG was initiated by SAMEA volunteers, so that M&E practitioners could talk to others and consider how they can support the education sector response to the COVID-19. The initiative was supported by the SAMEA secretariat and members of the SAMEA board. The EduCOVID TIG was open to SAMEA members and non-members and some cross-linkages with the BRIDGE M&E Community of practice were established.

By Lesedi Senamele Matlala_JET Education Services

Use of Online Focus Groups Discussions (FGD) has expanded over the past months, as well as in the Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) field since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Although guidelines on how to successfully conduct online focus groups might have been issued and published elsewhere, this blog focuses on my experiences and reflections in conducting online FGD during the times of the COVID-19 pandemic in South Africa.

By Benita Williams

Schools are back, and slowly the support projects implemented by NGOs and other partners are getting back on track. Except, everything is different. Now, evaluators need to take into account a range of COVID-19 related contextual variables when evaluating initiatives in schools. Come and join the EduCOVID TIG Evaluation Hackathon, where we will develop joint indicators and tools to answer common evaluation questions.

By Daleen Botha & Takalani Muloiwa

The third EduCOVID TIG meeting, held on 22 of July 2020, was hosted by Benita Williams (Benita Williams Evaluations) and Takalani Muloiwa (Wits University) on the topic ‘Education, inequality and innovation in the time of COVID-19’.

By Benita Williams

Have you read the newspaper reports about the release of the NIDS-CRAM Wave 1 research? The National Income Dynamics Study – Coronavirus Rapid Mobile Survey (NIDS-CRAM) is a broadly nationally-representative panel survey of 7,000 South African individuals conducted every month.

By Tikwiza Silubonde, Benita Williams

In the second EduCOVID TIG meeting, held on 2 July, Ms. Tikwiza Silubonde from Stellenbosch University facilitated a TIG webinar on "Learning Briefs as a tool to support EduCOVID response". The recording of the meeting together with the presentations can be found here.

By Dr Lorraine Marneweck,Ms Gina Ermacora

This Blog was written Dr Lorraine Marneweck, Programme Director and Ms Gina Ermacora, Virtual Coach from ClassAct in June 2020. It is relevant to the EduCOVID TIG as much of our work is becoming virtual.