A total of 47 evaluations are underway or completed covering around R75 billion of government expenditure since 2012, says Minister in the Presidency for Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation, Jeff Radebe.

“Through the National Evaluation System, government reflects on whether its programmes are doing the right things, whether they are being effective, efficient and providing value for money and how government can improve,” the Minister said.

In collaboration with government departments, academic and research institutions are being commissioned to undertake evaluation, which are later tabled to Cabinet and Parliament.

Updating the media on the progress and challenges pertaining to the 14 priorities of government on Friday, Minister Radebe emphasised that departments are expected to develop improvement plans that address key issues raised in the evaluations.

“As these evaluations are completed and fed into the system, we should see improvements in the effectiveness of government’s programmes,” Minister Radebe said.

New ECD policy

Among the evaluations underway and completed include the first evaluation on Early Childhood Development (ECD) which resulted in a new ECD policy being developed and gazetted in March 2015.

The evaluation of Grade R lead to a focus on improving the quality of Grade R to maximise its impact on poor children and in poorly performing provinces and strengthening the training and development of Grade R teachers.

“This has the potential to make a major difference to our children,” Minister Radebe said.

Business Process Outsourcing Scheme

Evaluations of the Business Process Outsourcing Scheme (BPS), the Support Programme for Industrial Innovation (SPII) and the Technology and Human Resources for Industry Programme (THRIP), have also been completed.

Minister Radebe said as a result of the evaluations, both BPS and SPII have been revised and re-launched, adding that they should be more effective and efficient.

Nutrition Intervention for Children

The evaluation of Nutrition Intervention for Children under five showed that there is a significant problem of stunting for 21% of the children. The evaluation has informed the inclusion of a Medium Term Strategic Framework (MTSF) target to reduce stunting to 10%.

Development Grant evaluation

Minister Radebe also noted that the Development Grant evaluation has led to a revised grant framework, while the design evaluation of the Policy on Community Colleges has led to the policy being revised even before the evaluation was completed.

“We are practicing what we preach. We have undertaken evaluations of some of our programmes – the Management Performance Assessment Tool and the Citizen-Based Monitoring Programme,” the Minister said.

Other programmes

Some of the other programmes to be evaluated include the Integrated Justice Programme, the City Support Programme and the Birth Registration Programme.