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A consultant was recruited to finalise the diagnostic study of the national monitoring and evaluation system (NMES) of Benin. The objective of the activity is to improve the quality of the diagnostic report of the responsiveness of Benin’s national monitoring and evaluation system in relation to gender and to propose a budgeted action plan project to improve it. Specifically, the study included the following tasks:

• Examine the existing study report;
• Collect of additional data;
• Refine the existing report;
• Develop strong recommendations based on the results of the study;
• Propose a draft budgeted action plan for the implementation of the recommendations. Based on the results and recommendations from the assessment of Benin’s national monitoring and evaluation system, a multi-year action plan was developed to improve NMES in relation to the different criteria for gender integration. This report is an English translation of the theory of change, results and recommendations. The full background and methodology can be found in French full report. Additional notes on the methodology are found in the three-country synthesis report.

This assessment aims to describe the level of gender-responsiveness in key policies and processes, as well as understand the extent to which there is gender disaggregation in the data that is collected to monitor and evaluate progress through the 14 Outcomes of the Medium Term Strategic Framework (MTSF), and, in a number of cases, these relate to the Annual Performance Planning (APP) processes. It is intended that this will also aid the identification of opportunities within existing processes within GWM&E to mainstream gender. The specific objectives were:

• Review the extent to which the GWM&E system is being implemented in a manner that is gender responsive.
• Examine the data being collected against the indicators within the 14 outcomes of the Medium Term Strategic Framework and conduct an analysis of the extent to which these are gender responsive and disaggregated in terms of gender.
• Offer insights on gender in the National Evaluation System.
• Provide three case studies which present some of the ways in which these sectors include gender in planning, accountability and M&E, including relevant indicators and data sources outside of the MTSF.
• Connect with Department of Women liaison, as well as other key role players, to establish gaps in gender in GWM&E and opportunities to enhance gender-responsiveness and disaggregation, with particular reference to engagement in the workshop.

As more evaluations are commissioned and undertaken in African countries, it is clear that the current supply of good evaluators is constrained, with relatively small group of professional suppliers taking up most of the larger evaluation studies. As more governments demand more evaluative evidence, the number and quality of human resources required to meet this will grow. At the current level of demand, problems with the size of the pool of available evaluators, the quality of their deliverables and their ability to respond to government terms of reference (ToRs), consolidates an already skewed evaluation market.

During 2017 and early 2018, Twende Mbele commissioned separate diagnostic studies on the supply and demand of evaluators in Uganda, Benin and South Africa. While the studies were separate, they had similar terms of reference. This policy brief provides an integrated summary of the three studies. Additional detail can be found in the country-specific diagnostic reports.

A great deal has been written about the importance of achieving prioritisation in public sector planning, and even more has been written about how this could be done, but most of the latter work focuses on the theory of how this is to be achieved (the assumed characteristics of a successful prioritisation system, the suggested components of a performance management system, etc.). Twende Mbele commissioned a literature review focusing on two areas:

• approaches, processes and tools that could support more effective plan prioritisation and budget alignment; and
• the utilisation of monitoring and evaluation systems and information to support better prioritisation and alignment.

A review of literature – drawn from a wide range of disciplines – suggests that there are a number of factors that are positively correlated with long-term and sustainable improvements in the process of prioritisation as well as monitoring and evaluation in the public sector.

The importance of strengthening national evaluation systems is gaining traction with more states investing in developing the evaluation capacity of their institutions and systems for improved program delivery. Embedded in that approach, is the development of homegrown evaluation tools to conduct country-driven evaluations to improve overall government efficiency and effectiveness. Mainstreaming gender into evaluation policies and processes and involving national gender machineries should be part of the “modus operandi” of national evaluation systems. A national gender machinery monitors government actions to promote gender equality (Testolin, 2001).