For over 25 years, Khulisa and its founders have delivered management support to clients in the health, education, social development, and economic sectors throughout the continent of Africa. Our clients – including many African governments – deliver essential public services, set up pilot development projects, and work on legislation and policy reforms. Yet in the coming years, Khulisa has a more
active role to play. After decades of funding and programs, the international development regime is under scrutiny to re-assess the successes and failures of development efforts, especially in Africa. There is a renewed interest by donors, governments, and citizens to measure and evaluate the impact and effectiveness of development projects, especially after the 2008 global recession. Khulisa’s strategy is to help design sustainable development approaches that have a lasting impact on the people of Africa. For the public sector, the arbitrary behaviour of weak institutions is a key constraint to development. Strong M&E systems ensure sustainability by asking up front for a government, NGO, or donor’s theory of change – what exactly is the problem and desired change? Reliable and timely data can be used to track progress, identify trends and issues as well as to pick up on unintended consequences. Most importantly, statistics and data can empower citizens to hold their governments accountable. Part of Khulisa’s mission in Africa has been to persuade governments on the importance of data, data management systems, and social audits to ensure accountability and efficiency of scarce resources. In that vein, one of Khulisa’s directors – Jennifer Bisgard, the founding chair of the South African Monitoring and Evaluation Association (SAMEA) – addressed the Southern African Development Community (SADC)’s 15 education ministries in December on the value of M&E for southern Africa’s education systems.
