NAIROBI, Kenya, Jul 12 – Kenya is this month set to host the first Africa Monitoring and Evaluation conference that will facilitate dialogue among stakeholders on research and evaluation agenda.
The conference dubbed Evidence to Action (E2A) will be held in Nairobi at the United States International University (USIU- Africa), from July 26th to July 27th 2018 in partnership with the International Center for Evaluation and Development and Campbell Collaboration, Agriculture Technology Adoption Initiative (ATAI),
The conference is aimed at identifying effective ways research and evaluation findings that can be utilized for evidence-based policy-making and action.
The conference will bring together a high calibre of experts drawn from national, regional and international organisations, providing a platform for researchers, academia, private sector executives, M & E experts, development agencies, farmer organizations, civil society players and policymakers to share experiences.
Prince of Netherlands Pieter Christiaan of Orange – Nassau is expected to attend the conference though he is yet to confirm.
Treasury Monitoring and Evaluation Director Samson Machuka says despite the growing need for research, monitoring and evaluation, government agencies are yet to fully exploit the potential.
“There is a lot of research in Africa, but it is not used to inform policies and decision-making process. While the value of research and evaluation is increasingly appreciated on the continent, determining what evidence to use for decision-making – and how to use it – has been a challenge,” Machuka told Capital FM Business.
He says there is need to strengthen the connections between research, evaluation and evidence-based policies and practices in sub-Saharan Africa.
“We see a lot of counties in Kenya going for benchmarking outside of Kenya, but we have so much research in this country, they do not need to go anywhere and waste resources,” he said.
According to Elsevier, a global information analytics business, Africa contributes less than one percent of the Worlds research.
However, the firm says the continents’ research reveals promising developments and strategies for continued improvement.