An analysis of the design of evaluation standards in the South African National Evaluation System

Globally, the development of evaluation standards and related quality assurance measures for managing and assessing evaluation quality has been the focus of much debate in the evaluation community. Especially in the current context of COVID 19, validating the quality of evaluation and research evidence to respond to the global pandemic and to socio-economic development has become more relevant. The question of evaluation quality has also become important in South Africa. This has resulted in a need for a National Evaluation System to manage the quality of the evaluation process and outputs; so that critical stakeholders can trust and use the evaluation evidence to measure performance and accountability of government. The South African National Evaluation System through the National Evaluation Policy Framework (NEPF) was adopted by Cabinet to guide the development and management of systemic and institutional evaluation policy and practice. This research responds to the conceptual gap in the design of the evaluation standards. The purpose of the research study is to analyse the design of evaluation standards in the South African National Evaluation System (NES). The research objectives of the study were: To analyse the design of evaluation standard in the South African National Evaluation System against international evaluation normative frameworks, To assess the theory underpinning the evaluation standards in the South African National Evaluation System. A qualitative research approach using a semi-structured interview was used to collect data from the eight respondents. The participants included in the sample were those who played a meaningful role in the design and application of the evaluation standards and the Evaluation Quality Assessment Tool (EQAT) of the NES. Content and thematic analysis were used to process and analyse the empirical data. The research study produced the following key findings. The design of the national evaluation standards as a component of the South African National Evaluation System was technically and conceptually clear about its context, rationale, purpose and its claims to manage the evaluation process to promote evaluation quality. Although most national evaluation standards of the NES were consistent with international frameworks, both national and international standards did not adequately address the development and transformative issues such as equity, diversity and inclusion. Finally, the discourse of paradigms was absent in the design of the standards. The national evaluation standards did not explicitly show the influence of the paradigm on methodological approaches, evaluation designs and methods. This theoretical gap is also evident in most of the international frameworks that the national standards were benchmarked against.Thesis (MPA) -- Faculty of Management and Commerce, 202