gLOCAL Evaluation Week 2024: A Look at Events in Lusophone Africa and Brazil
In Brazil and Lusophone Africa, 49 events took place during gLOCAL Evaluation Week 2024. The Center for Learning on Evaluation and Results for Lusophone Africa and Brazil (CLEAR-LAB), an implementing partner of the Global Evaluation Initiative (GEI), organized seven of these events, including six webinars and one workshop, with international partners from Latin America and Africa.
Participants at one of these events, Spending Review: Bringing it to Brazil, moderated by André Portela, director of CLEAR-LAB, included Marc Robinson, member of the OECD Advisory Panel on Budgeting and Public Expenditures, André Martinez Fritscher, a fiscal specialist from the IDB; and Wesley Matheus, Chief of Staff of the National Secretariat for Evaluation of Public Policies and Economic Affairs of the Brazilian Ministry of Planning and Budget.
Marc Robinson provided an overview of the spending review, pointing out that the approach combines its primary objective of defining savings options with a way to achieve performative improvement and he highlighted the advantages and requirements for its adoption. André Martinez Fritscher then discussed practices in Chile, Colombia, and Mexico, clarifying that these are governance strategies rather than a more formalized spending review process. Wesley Matheus discussed national government experiences in Brazil and presented the work of its secretariat with examples of spending reviews already executed. The roundtable discussion took place at a time when the spending review was being debated to improve government spending to create fiscal space.
The session on Institutionalizing M&E at the Sub-National Level: Views from Africa and Brazil was led by CLEAR-LAB. It reinforced the links between Brazil and Africa, delving into research carried out by CLEAR-LAB and the African organization, Twende Mbele, on the institutionalization of M&E in Brazil and in six African countries. Researchers Lorena Figueiredo (CLEAR-LAB) and Ayabulela Dlakavu (Twende Mbele) presented their findings and reflected on the differences and similarities between the two contexts.
The discussion was moderated by Dirk Hoffmann from the German Institute for Development Evaluation (DEval) and Lycia Lima, deputy director of CLEAR-LAB. The latter highlighted that, although the institutionalization of M&E is always a challenging process, there are many common challenges, and we can build on this dialogue. “This exchange of global knowledge is very powerful and can bring many benefits by keeping the conversation going”, concluded Lycia Lima. The event reflected the spirit of gLOCAL and served as a space for exchange among professionals in the M&E sector from the Global South to diagnose and reflect upon the current state of M&E systems in their respective countries.