The third edition of the International Francophone Forum on Evaluation (FIFE) took place in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso from 12 to 15 November 2019. The forum, themed ‘Evaluation, for whose benefit and with which values?’ attracted participants from over 30 Francophone countries, including current and former Executive Committee members of APNODE.
Central to the forum’s objective was the essence of advancing a culture of development evaluation, and to deliberate on the individual and collective interests of stakeholders involved in evaluation: parliamentarians, members of government (national, local) and administrative officials, technical and financial partners, civil society, academics, evaluation practitioners, and development partners.
APNODE’s delegation was comprised of Hon. Abbas Imbassou Ouattara (Vice Chairperson), Sen. Roger Mbassa-Ndine (former APNODE Chairperson), together with the following Executive Committee members: Hon. Rahhal El Makkaoui (Morocco), Hon. Noel Rossan Goakûn Toe (Burkina Faso), Hon. Jérémie Adomahou (Benin) and Sen. Andre Moussounda Mikala (Gabon).
The APNODE delegation participated in the workshop on “Institutionalization of Evaluation in French-speaking countries: Current situation, challenges and perspectives.” Participants and panelists at the workshop acknowledged that while some countries such as Côte-d’Ivoire and Gabon have made some progress regarding institutionalizing evaluation, for many others, evaluation has not been established at the national level. It was further stressed that institutionalizing evaluation is a difficult process even though it is a vector of good governance. The workshop concluded on the note that institutionalizing evaluation cannot be decreed and that without a culture of evaluation, institutionalization will remain an elusive goal. Speakers, therefore, called upon evaluation stakeholders to come together, to learn from each other’s experience, and to work more collaboratively to institutionalize evaluation across Francophone countries by implementing, disseminating, and reinforcing a culture of evaluation.