List of all Events

This seminar will review evidence-based policy-making and the potential role of evaluation as a key, and a systematic, source of evidence. The seminar starts at 12.30 at the Pretoria offices of the Human Sciences Research Council and it is possible to connect via teleconference from Durban and Cape Town.

Event Documents:

1) Seminar on evaluation as a key source of evidence for policy-making. - (A lunchtime seminar on evaluation as a source of evidence in policy-making)

A two-day workshop aimed at stimulating reflective debate amongst policy-makers, researchers and development practitioners, reflecting on learnings from South Africa and internationally around the use of evidence in policy-making, including activities funded by the PSPPD

Event Documents:

1) Is evidence the answer? – Evidence, policy, action: Mail and Guardian workshop supplement - (Supplement on the two-day reflective event held on 21-22 November 2011 to critically examine the role evidence plays in policy-making)

2) Policy brief: Evidence-based policy-making (EBPM): Enhancing the use of evidence and knowledge in policy-making - (The first in a series of PSPPD policy briefs, drawing from workshops and activities aimed at improving skills around evidence-based policy-making in South Africa.)

On 25 October 2011, an M and E Learning Network workshop on impact evaluations in government was hosted by the Presidency: Department of Performance Monitoring and Evaluation (DPME) with technical and financial support from the PSPPD.

Event Documents:

1) Report on the M&E Learning Network event on impact evaluations in government, 25 October 2011, Pretoria - (The main purpose of the workshop was to share best practices and emerging lessons in the field of impact and results evaluation, as well as perspectives on how to link impact evaluation to policy. To this end lessons from the work of 3ie (International Initiative for Impact Evaluation), CONEVAL in Mexico, and a recent tour to Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore, were drawn and shared. The workshop also sought to deliberate and discuss the draft National Evaluation Policy Framework, with the aim of receiving feedback from stakeholders before taking it to Cabinet for approval.)

The Department of Performance Monitoring and Evaluation (DPME) in the Presidency held a workshop on 29 August 2011 with the aim of engaging with civil society and stakeholders on a structured approach for citizens to monitor front-line service delivery.

Event Documents:

1) Citizen-based service delivery monitoring: Research into current practices - (This research was commissioned by the Department of Performance Monitoring and Evaluation (DPME), with support from the PSPPD. It is an initial scoping exercise of citizen involvement in service delivery monitoring to investigate existing practices and explore if there are aspects of existing practices which should be considered for wider application. Aspects of this research were tabled at a government-civil society workshop on 29 August 2011.)

2) Workshop report: Scoping an approach for community-based monitoring and accountability - (This workshop report presented the results of an initial scoping exercise conducted on current practices by civil society organisations, while workshop discussions formed the basis for an exploration of the feasibility of an appropriate approach for independent community-based monitoring and accountability in South Africa. )

This conference held from 24-25 August 2011 provided a platform for policy-makers, academia and development practitioners to engage with one another so as to better understand and interrogate the dynamics of poverty and inequality in South Africa.

Event Documents:

1) Being Poor Matters! - (Recent evidence on poverty and inequality in South Africa.)

2) Conference programme - (Final programme for the Being Poor Matters! conference)

3) Video presentations from the Being Poor Matters! conference - (Selected presentations from the conference are on YouTube and are available here)

4) Being Poor Matters!: Mail & Guardian supplement: September 2011 - (This supplement provides an overview of a the conference, 'Being Poor Matters' held by the PSPPD which served as a platform for policy-makers, academics and development practitioners to interrogate the dynamics of poverty and inequality and explore why we are faced with such high levels of both - and what we can do about it.)

An M&E Learning Network workshop on evaluations in government hosted by the Presidency: Department of Performance Monitoring and Evaluation (DPME) with the technical and financial support from the UK Department for International Development and the PSPPD.

Event Documents:

1) Report on the M&E Learning Network event on evaluations in government - (Workshop report with case studies on evaluations conducted in South African government and good practices learned from a study tour to Mexico, Colombia and the United States of America (US). Reviews evaluations methodologies and provides inputs to the draft evaluations framework for government.)

The Deputy Minister and staff of the Department of Performance Monitoring and Evaluation (DPME) and other departments visited Mexico, Colombia and the US to look at their PME, and more specifically evaluation systems.

Event Documents:

1) Report on study tour to Mexico, Colombia, Brazil and the US: June/July 2011 - (Study tour report which highlights policy implications of lessons learned and the need for an integrated planning, budgeting and PME system, coordination of key players at national level, criteria for a credible evaluation system and recommendations for taking this process forward. A key outcome of the study tour was the drafting of the National Evaluation Policy Framework which was submitted to Cabinet in November 2011. The Framework document is listed below.)

2) National evaluation policy framework - (This policy framework provides the basis for a minimum system of evaluation across government. Its main purpose is to promote quality evaluations which can be used for learning to improve the effectiveness and impact of government, by reflecting on what is working and what is not working and revising interventions accordingly. It seeks to ensure that credible and objective evidence from evaluation is used in planning, budgeting, organisational improvement, policy review, as well as on-going programme and project management, to improve performance. It provides a common language for evaluation in the public service.)

3) Policy Action Network newsletter: From evidence to action: Evaluating our way to better government. - (There is more information about the study tour and its outcomes in Issue 6 of the Policy Action Network newsletter, From evidence to action: Evaluating our way to better government performance. Of particular interest was the process adopted in drafting the framework which is described in the Tools section of the newsletter)

Exchange to Sweden

A high level policy forum held by the National Planning Commission (NPC) in the Presidency, Trade & Industrial Policy Strategies (TIPS) and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) to discuss the issue of inequality and poverty in South Africa and what policy options exist to address it. The Forum presented an opportunity to debate the policy conclusions from research into inequality and poverty trends in South Africa and other countries with relevant experiences, particularly Brazil.

Event Documents:

1) Policy forum: Poverty and Inequality in South Africa - (Report from the high level policy forum held on 6 June 2011. Highlights the fact that South Africa still has very high levels of inequality and poverty; and even though some progress has been made in reducing income poverty, inequality has increased. Some of the challenges the country faces in dealing with this issue include the historical legacy of apartheid, the global economic crisis, high levels of unemployment and poor quality education, among others. The forum explored these challenges, the trends in other emerging markets and developed countries, and what lessons can be learned from these experiences.)

2) Trends in South African income distribution and poverty since the fall of apartheid - (An OECD social, employment and migration working paper (No. 101) which presents a detailed analysis of changes in both poverty and inequality since the fall of Apartheid, and the potential drivers of such developments. Use is made of national survey data from 1993, 2000 and 2008.)

The PSPPD funded a workshop on 11 May 2011 which brought together researchers and government officials working on issues related to child poverty to discuss these issues, the evidence we have to date, and what this evidence is saying. The workshop stressed the significant challenge facing the country around child poverty and how this is related to inequality. It raised issues relating to the measurement of child poverty, content issues, institutional issues in addressing it effectively, and the need for further research.

On 28 March 2011 the Social Policy Research Group in the Stellenbosch University Economics Department hosted a workshop for policy-makers and researchers with the intention of disseminating recent research finding, the culmination of an 18 month long research project titled, Low quality education as a poverty trap, headed by Professor Servaas van der Berg and Dr Ronelle Burger and funded by the PSPPD.

Event Documents:

1) Report: Low quality education as a poverty trap - (The research that this document reports on considers how the low quality of tuition offered in schools in poor communities can entrench exclusion and marginalisation.)

2) Background documents: Low quality education as a poverty trap, March 2011 - (Links are provided here to workshop presentations, working papers and policy briefs from the research project. Media coverage of the workshop is also reflected on this page.)

Rapid Evidence Assessments (REAs) have been developed as a means of responding to the evidence needs of policy makers and public service providers. REAs are one type of research synthesis. Research syntheses seek to analyse all existing evidence in a systematic and unbiased way. This 3-day course training was offered to academics and policy-makers, supported by the Monitoring and Learning Facility of the PSPPD.

Event Documents:

1) Report on rapid evidence assessments training workshop: 9-11 March 2011 - (The course was offered over 3 full days and was attended by policy makers and researchers. )

Grantee Workshop

This was a training workshop for academics and policy-makers. The course tutors were Dr Phil Davies of Oxford Evidentia in the UK, Taryn Young of the Cochrane Collaboration in Cape Town, and Alison Bullen of the HSRC. The three day course introduced participants to the different types of research synthesis, and practical training in how to undertake rapid evidence assessments. There were 25 participants including researchers from universities, HSRC and civil society, and policy analysts from the Presidency, Department of Social Development and Parliament seeking to undertake or commission rapid evidence assessments. Annex 1 of the report has a list of participants.

Event Documents:

1) Report on rapid evidence assessment training workshop

The purpose of the working-level exchange was to participate in the Canadian management accountability framework (MAF) process in order to develop practical lessons for the implementation of an adapted tool for the South African context.

Event Documents:

1) Report of follow up on exchange visit to Canada.

The conference aimed to draw lessons from national and international practice, research evidence, and policy implementation for economic transformation. It was hosted by the Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS), in partnership with the Studies in Poverty and Inequality Institute (SPII), Isandla Institute, the Chronic Poverty Research Centre (CPRC) and the Programme to Support Pro-poor Policy Development (PSPPD), and took place in Gauteng, South Africa on 20, 21, 22 September 2010.

Event Documents:

1) Summary report: Overcoming inequality and structural poverty in South Africa - (This executive summary captures golden threads’ distilled from inputs by presenters and participants in the rich discussions that unfolded during the conference proceedings. The report groups together content issues from the conference relating to the vision and values underpinning South Africa’s development trajectory, the dynamics of poverty and inequality, and the policy response, and then looks at cross-cutting issues relating to the nature of the state, services needed, and empowering citizens. In line with conference deliberations, this summary highlights on the one hand actions or interventions that can be pursued now as part of a more coherent and effective response to poverty and inequality, and on the other hand issues that require further exploration, a stronger evidence-base and careful consideration)

PSPPD organised a study tour for members of the Presidency (including the DG of DPME) to look at the UK’s experience on performance management and evaluation (PM&E) and evidence-based policy-making (EBPM) in September 2010. A range of organisations were visited ranging from the Prime Minister’s Delivery Unit, to the Young Foundation. The purpose of the study tour was to develop practical lessons that South Africa could implement of how to improve delivery capacity and policy implementation.

Event Documents:

1) Report of UK Study Tour on PM&E and Evidence-Based Policy-Making 6-10 Sept 2010

• Training in the Stata statistical package for academics from Limpopo (April 2010); • A 5-day training for 20-25 academics from the Universities of Limpopo, Venda and Fort Hare who were struggling to complete their doctorates (October 2010); • Two 5-day trainings for 20-25 academics from the Universities of Limpopo, Venda and Fort Hare who were developing their PhD proposals and supporting them with mentors (November 2010 and May 2011); • Training for supervisors from the same universities (planned); • Training in the development of policy briefs (planned); • Training in quantitative analysis for social scientists (planned).

The workshop on evidence-based policy making drew together senior policy-makers in South Africa to discuss evidence-based policy-making (EBPM) and its application in South Africa. This report provides an overview of proceedings and summaries of presentations.

Event Documents:

1) Workshop on evidence-based policy-making March 2010

The study tour was successful in that it explored the relevant content areas which will be implemented by the MLF. Among some of the issues discussed was the competencies government officials require to use evidence and research evidence in particular for policymaking. Another key issue is that systems have to be put in place to ensure that evidence-based policy-making is institutionalised in government.

Event Documents:

1) UK Study Tour Report

2) Report on study tour to Oxford University