SAMEA’s M&E capacity building vision May 15, 2007 Kevin Kelly

SAMEA status oIncorporated as a Section 21 Company under the Companies Act, No. 61 of oAs such the company is not for gain and applies its income and profits only in promoting the objectives of the Association. o10 person board elected by members, who provide services on a volunteer basis. o540 strong-membership. oSupported by a part time administrator.

SAMEA’s Vision Monitoring and evaluation widely recognized in South Africa as a profession and discipline essential to development, and practiced and used in a manner that adds significant value to effective, sustainable development in South Africa.

SAMEA’s Mission SAMEA will cultivate a vibrant community that supports, guides and strengthens the development of monitoring and evaluation in South Africa as an important discipline, profession and instrument for empowerment and accountability.

SAMEA’s Objectives ⃘ To provide a platform for interaction and information sharing among all those interested in M&E. ⃘ To promote high quality intellectual, ethical and professional standards in M&E. ⃘ To increase the use of M&E theory and practice. ⃘ To promote the development and adoption of M&E approaches and methods suitable to a South African and development context. ⃘ To promote post-graduate education and continuing professional development in the field of M&E. ⃘ To increase the profile of South African M&E at national and international level. ⃘ To help build understanding of international developments and trends in M&E. ⃘ To be a resource on M&E in South Africa.

Goals of education and training portfolio oTo promote education and training in M&E oTo monitor training standards and promote high quality of training oTo make available information about M&E training initiatives oTo promote specialisation in the field oTo promote research into monitoring and evaluation and publication of the same oTo promote education on ethics of M&E oTo promote sharing of monitoring and evaluation experience through symposia and conferences oTo initiate and formalise institutional partnerships with relevant South African training institutions oTo act as a conduit to the training resources and opportunities available through the international evaluation community and develop co-operation with other evaluation associations and networks in providing training.

SAMEA’s role in training oSAMEA is committed to understanding and responding to the professional development needs of its members. oSAMEA never intends to be a training institution itself, but to promote and host training programmes provided by others and to facilitate training and professional development events. oAdvocate for and form partnerships towards presenting education and training programmes by local and international experts. oRecognition that training needs to accommodate the range of needs of members with diverse interests and needs.

Achievements in first year oHosted a number of professional development seminars oFirst bi-annual conference held in March o400 delegates, 15 training workshops, 50 oral presentations, 5 panels, 4 guest speakers oTheme of the conference was ‘Evaluation in action’ focusing on: -utilisation of evaluation practices and findings in programme development, management and implementation; -knowledge management within organisations and programmes; -the challenges of building evaluation systems for tiered, multi-sectoral and multi-partnered programmes; -and building evaluation capacity.

Plans: Education and training oSubject to upcoming strategic planning workshop. oSAMEA is currently conducting an evaluation of the conference and it is hoped that from this we will gain a better understanding of what we should focus on. oProposed review of M&E training opportunities in SA, including specialised training needs. oSAMEA will continue to plan training seminars and workshops. oPlan next biannual conference for 2009

Plans: Professional development forums oAs well as facilitating training opportunities we hope in the year ahead to use the internet to a greater extent for professional development purposes. oThis will include focused internet discussions on topical issues. oWe also hope to further promote the further development of SAMEA chapters and special focus groups, which will draw attention. oThus far five chapters have or are in process of forming: Gauteng; Eastern Cape; Western Cape; KZN; HIV/AIDS; M&E of poverty reduction interventions; accreditation; education; donor group; student interest group oImportant to service need for professional development in specialised areas of our discipline and to have presence across country.

Plans: Develop internet support for M&E capacity building oFurther develop our website to be a lively and up-to-date communication hub oThis is likely to include further developments in the following areas, all of which are already operational: onotification of conferences, training and other professional opportunities; oa repository for standards of practice, guidelines, tools, bibliographies, and links to resources; oa discussion forum (SAMEAtalk) including and specific moderated internet discussions oa directory of practitioners / expertise linked to that of the African Evaluation Association; oa quarterly online newsletter.

Plans: Training standards oStandards: SAMEA does not endorse or support particular training programmes, but is concerned to promote high standards. SAMEA halted work it commenced to develop a protocol for ‘endorsing’ M&E training. It decided that a more fundamental process was required in collaboration with other institutions. oAn accreditation interest group formed after the SAMEA conference and has come to the conclusion that the time is appropriate to embark on developing unit standards for M&E training, and it would benefit the field of M&E. oSAQA indicated that they would provide some support in terms of some (limited) funding for unit standards development and access to specialists in unit standards development. oSAQA has indicated that the process should not be driven by SAQA and this needs to be done by another 'body'- SAMEA or an accreditation reference group of some sort. oThere was some debate around where the 'home' of M&E unit standards would be - which SETA - but this was not discussed at length and would need to be dealt with by the reference group.

Plans: Ethics and research oEstablish processes through which the quality, professionalism and ethics of monitoring and evaluation in South Africa can be enhanced. oSupport for finalisation of AFREA guidelines. oPromote research on evaluation. oSAMEA has been asked to support the development of a peer-reviewed journal in collaboration with AfrEA.

To become a member and follow developments in SAMEA owww.samea.org.za