Management Challenges in M&E

Thoughts from South Africa

Abstract

This impressionistic narrative focuses on experiences in setting up South Africa’s first government monitoring and evaluation (M&E) unit. The high political expectations for the program required that M&E provide a progress overview and diagnosis of the ambitious land reform program. Key contextual factors that influence success and that may pose challenges are considered in this account, which shows both how strategies had to be changed to address varied demands and the mixed results these produced. Based on the practical experiences, a set of suggestions are provided to emerging evaluators as they sharpen their evaluation acumen.