About Us
Twende Mbele
At the heart of Twende Mbele is a desire to move beyond a network of people just sharing experience, toward a partnership where countries collaborate on developing and implementing M&E systems that improve government performance and impact on citizens. Twende engages with a variety of national governments who are interested to use M&E to strengthen government performance and accountability to citizens.
What we do
The Programme
The Twende Mbele Programme currently involves six core country partners (Benin, South Africa, Ghana, Uganda, Niger and Kenya), with two regional evaluation capacity development partners (CLEAR Anglophone Africa and IDEV at the African Development Bank). Eight other countries actively form part of the wider learning network. These partners are learning from each other, and more widely, around how more effective monitoring and evaluation (M&E) systems at all levels of government can strengthen government performance.
Our Story
Twende's Evolution
Twende Mbele (meaning Going Forward Together) is a peer learning partnership of African governments and regional organisations interested to use monitoring & evaluation (M&E) to strengthen government performance and accountability.
Our Strategic Management
Governance
The Twende Mbele programme is directed by two spheres of Management Committees; the Strategic Management Committee and a Technical Management Committee. Both management committees consist of core country representation, as well as technical partners IDEV at the African Development Bank, and the Centre for Learning on Evaluation and Results Anglophone Africa (CLEAR AA). The Strategic Management Committee endorse the annual action plan, and set out the strategic direction for the programme. Members of the Technical Committee are responsible for implementing a significant number of in-country activities, and ensuring ongoing learning and sharing. The Programme is managed through the secretariat hosted by CLEAR-AA, University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg.
A PEER LEARNING PARTNERSHIP
Our peer learning approach is an innovative way to produce results in a complex and changing environment.
Each of the partners are leaders in developing national evaluation systems in Africa, and as such seen as leaders in the evidence field. All Twende activities are part of each countries’ government priorities, and thus bring high-level buy-in.
Twende is able to be flexible and adaptable to changing situations in each country. Activities are intended to complement their current operations, permitting partners to learn from each other as well as other countries, and improve their M&E operations.
The partnership allows for real-time learning for partners as they innovate and experiment with building M&E systems and capacity of stakeholders throughout the evaluation ecosystem.
A Wider Learning Network
Beyond the core country partners, Twende seeks to provide a platform to catalyse learning from other countries in Africa, and more broadly. Sharing and learning is a core mandate, meaning we try to capitalise on existing learning events, while also hosting our own.
Additionally, Twende has partnered with CLEAR AA to run a regional peer learning program with parliaments, a collaborative curriculum and practitioner competencies for Universities across the continent, and building capacity with Civil Society Organisations. These collaborative projects allow us to boost the reach of our peer learning activities, and build champions within the wider evaluation ecosystem.
Our Team
Programme Manager
Dr Thina Nzo has over 16 years of professional expertise, her career spans leadership roles in non-profits, academic institutions, and international organisations, where she has led multiple policy and research projects. Dr Nzo possesses extensive experience and skills working in various portfolios, including serving as a senior researcher, consultant, and programme/project manager. She has coordinated stakeholder engagements and lead policy advocacy reforms as a policy evaluation specialist.
Communications Coordinator
Parfait Kasongo is passoinate about storytelling and sharing new knowledge. His research interest includes regional politics, governance, social engineering, International Political Economy and Geopolitics, and international law and International Relations. In a bid to expand his knowledge and understanding of law, parfait is pursuing a law degree with Wits University.
Learning Coordinator
Amanda Deuchars is the Learning Coordinator for Twende Mbele, bringing a multidisciplinary background in Sociology, English Literature, marketing, and compliance. She plays a key role in facilitating peer-to-peer learning, and supporting the integration of Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) insights into public policy. Fluent in French, she helps foster collaboration across diverse stakeholders, strengthening knowledge exchange and capacity building.
Project Administrator
Nosibabalwe Socikwa is a pracademic with experience in research, policy and advocacy, as well as programme. Her advocacy is grounded in research, having worked with civil society organisations, academic institutions and government on issues related to inclusive economies, human rights and social justice, climate change and climate finance, and environmental law. She is currently doing her Ph.D with UCT and hold Masters in Labour and Economic Sociology and Bachelor of Laws.
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