1,720,964 research outputs found
Evaluation as a mechanism to foster an equitable society in the Global South
Full text linkThis scholarly book is Volume 2 of a duology that seeks to stimulate conversations among development evaluators, commissioners of evaluations and development programme decision-makers about the role of evaluation in addressing inequality and fostering an equitable society in Africa. The book chapters explore the following questions: (1) Take stock of what we know about inequality – what inequality is in the African context, and how does it affect the lives of the citizens of African countries? (2) What does equitable evaluation mean? How can the concept of equitable evaluation be adopted in evaluation practice? (3) What lessons can be learnt from evaluations of interventions that address inequality at various levels (sectoral, programmatic and project) levels? (4) What epistemological transformation in evaluation practice is needed to achieve an equitable society? and (5) How have issues of inequality manifested within evaluation practice through organisations, institutions and international development? This book’s target audience is academics engaged in the field of developmental programmes in sub-Saharan Africa
Contribution of Monitoring and Evaluation to Performance and Governance of the South African National Space Agency
No full textA research report submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the Master of Management, In the Faculty of Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, Wits School of Governance, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2024Monitoring and evaluation (M&E) is a critical function for ensuring efficiency, accountability, and evidence-based practices in the delivery of services by government departments and entities. South Africa thus introduced a Government–Wide Monitoring and Evaluation System (GWMES) in 2007 to promote evidence-based decision making, enhance accountability and establish a more effective government. M&E is considered a key force for improving public sector performance, yet decades later government institutions face challenges relating to establishing effective M&E systems. This qualitative case study therefore examines M&E within the South African National Space Agency (SANSA) context to assess its contribution to performance and governance within this public entity. Findings of the study established the existence of an M&E system within SANSA, albeit with inadequate efforts towards its institutionalisation to promote evidence-based decision-making, improve performance and governance within the public entity. Key recommendations from the study are thus for SANSA to establish an M&E culture, build organisational evaluation capacity, strengthen advocacy for M&E and ensure effective dissemination and utilisation of M&E information. This can be achieved through the holistic institutionalisation of this entity’s M&E system. A need for capacity building interventions to strengthen internal M&E knowledge, create a conducive environment for employee engagement and promote accountability for performance outcomes was also established by this study. It is further recommended that such measures be augmented by routine communication to raise awareness of M&E practices, enhance transparency, and promote utilisation of M&E information for evidence-based planning and decision- making. The institutionalisation of M&E within the public sector was accordingly identified through this study as an area likely to impact government performance and thus requiring further research.MM202
Examining The Use of Evaluative Evidence in Decision- Making Within Catholic Faith-Based Organisations
No full textA research report submitted to the Faculty of Law, Commerce, and Management of the University of the Witwatersrand, in partial fulfilment for the degree of
Master of Management in Public and Development Sector Monitoring and Evaluation.Catholic Faith-Based Organisations are critical in contributing to social betterment through various development initiatives(Camilleri & Winkworth, 2004). The use of evaluations conducted in these organisations to enhance learning, programme improvement and eventually social betterment through informed decision-making is the concern of this research. Literature on the use of evaluations underlines the fact that evaluations are aimed at providing relevant information to various stakeholders for their decision-making and improvement of the evaluand as well as assessing their merits and worth (Alkin, 1975; Maloney, 2017a; Patton, 2012; Stufflebeam, 2001a). As a widely researched phenomenon, the use of evaluation has been identified by various authors to
include instrumental use, conceptual use, process use, and symbolic use (Alkin & Christie, 2004; Johnson et al., 2009). The need to make evaluations useful has, therefore, been the driving force behind the development of the different approaches to evaluation, evaluation principles and standards, as well as the creation of various voluntary associations to sustain and promote the professionalism of the field (Stufflebeam, 2004). Even though Catholic faith-based organisations conduct evaluations, little is documented about the extent to which these evaluations were used in decision-making processes, if any, and what role the evaluation characteristic factors, organisational and human factors play in influencing use. To investigate the extent to which these organisations
use these evaluations and the extent to which evaluation distinct variables play a role in enhancing use, a mixed method was undertaken to gather quantitative and qualitative data from 43 respondents who were selected purposefully among the eligible organisations for the study. A questionnaire was administered online, followed by key informant interviews.
The findings show that most organisations make use of evaluations to inform practice. Still, since the evaluations are commissioned mainly by the funders, the willingness of these organisations to take the initiative of conducting their evaluations is less evident. To some, carrying out evaluations is
merely to comply with the funding requirements rather than seeking evidence based upon which informed decisions can be made.
Therefore, I recommend that Catholic faith-based organisations institutionalise monitoring and evaluation units within their organisations to strengthen their internal capacity to generate and use evidence in decision-making. This would equally build evidence-use awareness and establish a culture of evaluative thinking in organisational practices.MM202
Equitable Evaluation
Full text linkThe World Health Organization (WHO) defines equity as the absence of preventable or remediable disparities among various groups of individuals, regardless of how these groups are delineated, whether by social, economic, demographic or geographic factors. The goal of equity is to eliminate the unfair and avoidable circumstances that deprive people of their rights. Therefore, inequities generally arise when certain population groups are unfairly deprived of basic resources that are made available to other groups. A disparity is ‘unfair’ or ‘unjust’ when its cause is due to the social context rather than biological factors. Equitable evaluation contends that conducting evaluation practices with an equity approach is more powerful, as evaluation is used as a tool for advancing equity. It emphasises that context, culture, history, and beliefs shape the nature of evaluations, specifically in the diverse and often complex African reality. Equitable evaluation can render power to the powerless, offer a voice to the silenced and give presence to those treated as invisible. Evidence from various sources shows that inequality is prevalent on the African continent, hence the need to focus on evaluative solutions that address the structural issues that contribute to the different forms of inequality, such as economic, political and social inequality. Despite a plethora of development interventions on the African continent, a large proportion of the population on the continent is still lacking access to basic goods and services for survival. The effectiveness of developmental programmes in sub-Saharan Africa has been elusive, to the extent that minimal inroads have been made in addressing key challenges such as poverty, inequality and the effects of climate change. This scholarly book aims to invigorate academic discussions surrounding developmental programmes, with the goal of generating insights that can be utilised by evaluation commissioners and decision-makers to help address inequality and promote a more equitable society in Africa through improved evaluation processes
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
‘Unshared vision’ : decentralisation in Zimbabwe, a special reference to the Harare City Council.
Full text linkDoctor of Philosophy in Community Development. University of KwaZulu-Natal. Durban 2016.Decentralisation in most African countries is fraught with problems and failures. A few countries in Africa experienced some successes in their pursuit of decentralisation. Several studies on democratic decentralisation have been conducted in the context of one political party controlling both the central state and the decentralised institution, where it is assumed that there is a concordance of vision between the central state and the local decentralised institution. However, a new context of decentralisation is emerging in the African context with opposition political parties capturing the decentralised institutions; thereby creating a disjuncture in vision between the central state and the decentralised institutions. This thesis examined the impact of shared or unshared vision between the local and central government in the event that there are different political parties controlling the two spheres of government. It also examined how service delivery and public participation plays out in the context of ‘unshared vision’. The location of the study was primarily the City of Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe, where an opposition political party is in power. The main theoretical framework in this study is critical realism. Primary and secondary data was collected from various sources. Primary data was collected through structured and unstructured interviews with various stakeholders in the City of Harare. The key findings of this thesis are that there is ‘unshared vision’ between the decentralised institutions and the central state. This disjuncture in vision is manifested in various contestations between these two spheres of the state; resulting in political battles being prioritised at the expense of services delivery for the residents of the City of Harare. Consequently, the voices of the citizens have been lost. The disjuncture has also resulted in the prime reason for decentralisation, namely; bringing government closer to the people, not being realised. This study contributes to the broad academic debate on decentralisation in situations where there is unshared vision between the local and central state
Coping with food poverty in cities : the case of urban agriculture in Glen Norah Township in Harare.
Full text linkThesis (M.Soc.Sc.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2013.Urban agriculture is a common and permanent phenomenon across most African cities. The
general trend in urban agriculture is that it is more pronounced among the poor urban
households. Poor households often spend more than 60% of their income on food alone. It acts
as coping mechanisms to urban poverty. The traditional view of urban agriculture is that it is a
temporal activity which has no place in cities. These traditional views emerge from
development policies which tried to tailor African countries’ economic development to follow
western economic development models. The fact that urban agriculture has been prevalent in
African cities before the advent of colonialism shows that instead of viewing it as temporal
activity a socio-historical and socio-economic analysis of urban agriculture is necessary to
understand the socio-economic mechanisms behind it. The major thrust of this research was to
understand the logic behind practising farming in cities.
Urban agriculture in this thesis is presented from urban farmers’ perspective. Using data
collected and the literature review for this thesis I developed the Urban Livelihoods Coping
Model (ULCM). This model acknowledges the fact that the socio-economic conditions and the
socio-historical context of Zimbabwe was as a result of the influence of ‘western leaning’
development policies influenced by theoretical framework of modernisation and associated
theories. A combination of these theories with cultural factors and the impact of Structural
Adjustment Policies resulted in the present situation where urban agriculture plays a critical in
the survival of the urban poor as a coping mechanism. The ULCM ascribes the emergence of
urban agriculture to necessity, ability and opportunity. Necessity for food emanates from
insufficient incomes to purchase food in cities. The ability comes in the form of farming skills
transferred from the rural areas to urban areas as households migrate. Opportunity comes in
the form of availability of land for cultivation. Increase in poverty in cities will subsequently
result in an increase in urban agriculture. It is apparent that without urban agriculture in Glen
Norah most of the families will find it difficult to survive. The significance of this study is that
it will help in the socio-economic understanding of urban agriculture and how it can be
factored into urban planning systems
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