What is Meant by Transforming Evaluation for Africa?

In light of the recent global ‘Black lives Matter’ protests, we are increasing seeing a movement for the complete overhaul of racist systems that reinforce and recreate the types actions that result in global inequalities and discrimination based on race, gender and sexual orientation. The protesters which are made up of people of different races, ethnicities, religions and sexual orientation, took to the streets to destroy modern colonial representations in the form of statues, monuments and even flags. Although victory seems to be far away, protestors across the globe have forced politicians to sign regulations and laws which may go a long way in stemming the systemic racism that exists in law enforcement and in the representation of history.

The call for transformation and decolonization is nothing new in African vocabulary – movements toward decolonization of the education and healthcare sectors have been in existence since the 1960s. The development evaluation space has not been exempted from these calls. Over the years, there’s been growing calls for the transformation of the evaluation landscape with more female representation and the use of more black evaluators in the space. Phrases such as: Made In Africa Evaluation; Indigenous Evaluation; and Decolonizing Evaluations have been touted more and more frequently.

Do they all mean the same thing? If not, then what do they mean? This brief will look to define what the meanings of terms such as, ‘Made in Africa Evaluation’, ‘Indigenous Evaluation’ and ‘Decolonizing Evaluations’. And how they could fast-track the achievement of the continental development agenda.