Evaluating development projects and programmes in Africa : the case of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD)

Abstract

This paper begins with a brief introduction on monitoring and evaluation concepts, the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) and challenges of its performance evaluation. It is indicated that NEPAD has not prescribed any internal or external monitoring and evaluation of its projects and programmes, and therefore calls into doubt the level of professional competence in its delivery strategies. The paper also examines selected monitoring and evaluation strategies such as the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) and others, which are embedded in the NEPAD workplan, but not sufficiently applied in its operations. Monitoring and evaluation mechanisms such as the Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA) and a few benchmarking evaluation techniques are recommended as possible introductory tools that could assist in the monitoring and evaluation of the NEPAD projects and programmes.