On October 10th and 11th, 2024, the German Institute for Development Evaluation (DEval) in partnership with VENRO convened experts and practitioners in Bonn, Germany, for a workshop that explored “Partner Orientation and Decolonization in Evaluations.” The Managing Director of PDA, Edem Agbe, gave a keynote presentation that highlighted the critical role of African-led approaches in transforming evaluation practices. His address underscored the need for evaluation models that prioritize community voices and local leadership, challenging conventional, externally-driven frameworks in favor of approaches that foster relevance, inclusivity, and empowerment within African contexts.
His address on “African-Led Evaluation in the Context of Competing Interests in International Development Practice” spearheaded compelling discussions among participants. Expressing his gratitude for the invitation and support in navigating the Schengen visa process, Edem emphasized his goal of creating an interactive session that centers individuals, not just data, in evaluation processes.
Edem called for a rethinking of conventional evaluation frameworks, underscoring the importance of co-leadership, collaboration, and community-centered approaches in evaluation. He highlighted the need to embrace diverse approaches and partnerships, particularly in light of a new generation of African evaluators. By incorporating inclusive methods, he advocated for evaluation practices that integrate community voices from design through to data collection and analysis, emphasizing that local perspectives are essential for meaningful, context-sensitive evaluations.
A key part of Edem’s address was a theoretical model of local involvement in evaluations across Africa, ranging from externally-driven designs to fully African-led evaluations. He described five stages, beginning with external designs where local evaluators are minimally involved, progressing to co-created evaluations, and culminating in a stage where African evaluators lead the entire process, ensuring local knowledge and community priorities are embedded at every stage. In this model, Edem argued that an ideal decolonized evaluation is led by a local evaluator who understands the customs, language, and context of the communities involved.
Edem challenged the audience with a crucial question: “How can we ensure that the voices of these individuals are included in the evaluation process?” He pointed out that adherence to Western evaluation standards can hinder relevance and utility for local stakeholders. Instead, he urged a shift toward African-led evaluations, which foster community ownership and provide more meaningful insights for development work in local contexts.
Concluding his keynote, Edem left the audience with thought-provoking questions on advancing towards decolonized evaluations: How do we move toward a central, decolonial approach? What are the structural, cultural, and operational constraints we face, and how can we leverage opportunities to decolonize our evaluation practices?
FURTHER READINGS
For those interested in exploring these concepts further, additional readings are available below.
- For more insights and a deeper exploration of Edem’s perspectives on African-led evaluation, read the full article published by members of PDA’s Research, Evaluation and Learning (REL) team here: https://pdaghana.com/unpacking-locally-led-research-and-evaluation-through-the-lens-of-collaborative-autoethnography/
- For a full summary of discussions at the VENRO-DEval Workshop 2024, you may download the summary document here.