This is precisely why evaluation matters. At its best, it empowers people, strengthens democracy, deepens transparency, and makes accountability real. The field is now well developed across Africa. The 25^th anniversary of the African Evaluation Association (AfrEA) showed that the continent stands confident in its expertise, rooted in deep experience and hard-won wisdom. This journal seeks to tell those stories of courage, learning, and possibility, and I am honoured to write this editorial as one who has witnessed AfrEA’s growth since its inception.

Over the past three decades, I have watched evaluation evolve across the continent and have been privileged to contribute to many of its iterations. The first Monitoring and Evaluation Department at South Africa’s National Department of Land Affairs, established in 1995 during the post-apartheid democratic transition, shaped my understanding of M&E when it was still nascent in Africa. Its role was to track land reform, intended to redress the legacies of colonialism, apartheid, and racially skewed ownership patterns. It brought previously censored information to the surface and made visible the socio-political realities surrounding land reform. Evaluation gave evidence a public role and opened space for scrutiny in a young democracy. Later, at the Public Service Commission, I helped develop systems that created conversations about state performance and good governance. If evaluation is about the public good, integrity, citizen-centred development, and corruption-free environments, then it must measure these ideals and report where claims fall short. I carried this African experience into my work at UNDP, where the evaluation programme was transformed to improve coverage and impact, and now at IFAD, where our focus is on how funds support government efforts to strengthen agriculture, particularly smallholder agriculture.

This journey has reinforced one conviction: while evaluation must uphold independence, credibility, and utility, it is never detached from context or values. It is shaped by the questions we ask, the voices we privilege, the evidence we recognise, and the purposes we serve. We must therefore question narrow notions of objectivity and remain alert to paradigms, frameworks, and even artificial intelligence systems that may not be locally relevant. This is why the Made in Africa Evaluation movement matters.

From the call in Niamey in 2007 to make evaluation our own, to the scholarship and practice being consolidated today, African evaluators have been reclaiming a fundamental right: to define what counts as evidence, whose voices are heard, and what transformation truly means. Africa need not ask permission to lead this thinking. Its intellectual depth, indigenous knowledge systems, practitioner networks, lived experience, scholarship, and courage are already here. I have long believed that independence and engagement are not opposites, but forms of dynamic coexistence. An evaluation function must be free enough to speak the truth and close enough to be useful. African institutions, often grounded in communities, are well placed to translate this balance into meaningful change.

To the young and emerging evaluators who give our community so much of its energy, I offer this with conviction: you are not inheriting a finished discipline; you are shaping one. You are not merely applying tools; you are helping define the questions that matter. Your task is to use borrowed frameworks critically and build approaches that reflect African realities, leave no one behind, and treat evaluation as an act of accountability and hope.

So, as we open this edition of AfrEA Insight, I do so with optimism and responsibility. Evaluation in Africa is progressive, growing, and transformational.

The Made in Africa Evaluation (MAE) Convening 2026 has successfully concluded in Johannesburg, South Africa, bringing together evaluation leaders, academics, development partners, youth evaluators, policymakers, and practitioners from across Africa and beyond.

On 26 May 2026, AfrEA's Executive Director, Mr Carlos Akligo, represented the African Evaluation Association at the Canadian Evaluation Society (CES) Conference, held at the Westin Hotel in Edmonton, Canada. The conference convened evaluators, researchers, policymakers, and development practitioners from across the world under the theme Impactful evaluation in a complex world.

The conference provided an important platform for advancing dialogue on the future of African-centred evaluation and for strengthening partnerships between evaluation communities across continents. Discussions focused on expanding collaboration between AfrEA and evaluation associations across North America and Asia, while exploring practical pathways for deeper cooperation on culturally responsive and decolonial evaluation practice.

A major area of discussion centred on strengthening the participation of people of African descent and the African diaspora in Africa's evaluation ecosystem. Participants explored opportunities for Afro-descendant evaluators to become active members of AfrEA, contribute their expertise to African evaluation practice, and support the continued development of Made in Africa Evaluation. The conversations highlighted the value of building stronger connections between evaluators on the continent and those in the diaspora, to enrich knowledge exchange, professional development, and collaborative learning.

During the conference, Mr. Carlos Akligo highlighted AfrEA's leadership in advancing the Made in Africa Evaluation (MAE) agenda. He shared updates on the Association's efforts to promote evaluation approaches rooted in African knowledge systems, values, and contexts, while reinforcing the importance of international collaboration in advancing the profession.

Mr. Akligo also promoted the upcoming 12th AfrEA International Conference, emphasizing its role as a key platform for advancing African evaluation practice, fostering knowledge exchange, and strengthening partnerships across the global evaluation community. The discussion encouraged broader international participation and reinforced the conference's role as a meeting point for evaluators committed to strengthening evaluation across Africa and beyond.

Together with the 5th AfrEA President, Dr. Florence Etta, the 7th AfrEA President, Serge Eric Yakeu, the Executive Director held strategic discussions with Dr. Karen Terrell Jackson, Immediate Past President of the American Evaluation Association; Andrealisa Belzer, National Past President of the Canadian Evaluation Society; and Matthew Sanscartier, President of the Canadian Evaluation Society. The discussions explored opportunities to strengthen collaboration between AfrEA and regional Voluntary Organizations for Professional Evaluation (VOPEs), including the American Evaluation Association and the Canadian Evaluation Society. The partnership is envisioned as a mutually beneficial collaboration that will create shared value for AfrEA, its members, and the broader evaluation community.

The visit also provided an opportunity to discuss broader avenues for global advocacy. Among the issues raised was the importance of strengthening the representation of African evaluators within international policy and governance spaces, including advocating for AfrEA's engagement with the Permanent Forum on People of African Descent at the United Nations. Such engagement, he noted, would create further opportunities to elevate African perspectives on evaluation and to contribute to global conversations on equity, inclusion, and sustainable development.

AfrEA's participation in the Canadian Evaluation Society Conference reflects the Association's continued commitment to building strategic global partnerships, strengthening relationships with the African diaspora, and advancing Made in Africa Evaluation as an internationally recognised approach rooted in African realities and contributing meaningfully to global evaluation practice.

The Committee has extended its sincere congratulations to all elected candidates, its appreciation to every candidate who stood for election, and its thanks to all members who cast their vote. Detailed results are available on the AfrEA website.

Among the results declared, Dr Miché Ouédraogo was re-elected to a second term as President of AfrEA. Following the announcement, he shared the following reflection:

"I would like to express my deep gratitude and sincere appreciation following my re-election to a second term as President of AfrEA. This result reflects the confidence you have placed in the track record and achievements of the outgoing Board of Directors, and I congratulate all its members for their commitment and the scope of the work accomplished in service of our organisation.

Beyond this vote of confidence, this new term is a call to resolutely continue the structural reforms we have initiated and to strengthen the implementation of our 2024 to 2028 strategic plan, with a view to further promoting the practice of evaluation across the continent. I reiterate my thanks for the trust you have placed in me. May God bless Africa and AfrEA."

AfrEA reaffirmed its commitment to nurturing the next generation of African evaluators through the successful Youth in Evaluation Forum 2026, held virtually on 20 May 2026 under the theme "From Voice to Power: Centering Youth Leadership in Shaping Africa's Evaluation Future."

Organised with support from the Mastercard Foundation, the forum brought together young and emerging evaluators, experienced practitioners, and evaluation leaders from across both Anglophone and Francophone Africa, reflecting the continent's full linguistic and professional diversity, to explore how youth can play a more influential role in shaping Africa's evaluation agenda.

Moderated by Dr Lassana Touré, the forum featured an engaging panel comprising Ingrid Simo Kamdem (Cameroon), Dr Gabriel Keney (Ghana), Meriem Bahjaoui (Morocco), and Stephan Paulsen (South Africa). Drawing on their diverse experiences, the panellists discussed pathways for strengthening youth leadership, expanding professional opportunities, and ensuring that young evaluators actively contribute to evidence-informed decision-making across Africa.

The webinar also featured remarks from Dr Miché Ouédraogo, President of AfrEA, and Dr Emmanuel Baddoo, AfrEA's Project Manager, alongside Young and Emerging Evaluators (YEE) Network co-leads Baraka Mfilinge and Madeleine Brou. Together, they underscored AfrEA's commitment to investing in young professionals and creating inclusive spaces where emerging evaluators can learn, lead, and influence evaluation practice.

Discussions centred on three key areas: the importance of mentorship and intergenerational collaboration in equipping young evaluators with the knowledge and confidence to address Africa's evolving development challenges, the need for stronger professional networks to expand opportunities for youth participation, and practical strategies for deepening youth involvement within Voluntary Organizations for Professional Evaluation (VOPEs), national evaluation systems, and the broader Made in Africa Evaluation movement.

Looking ahead, participants called for sustained mentorship structures linking young evaluators with experienced practitioners, clearer pathways for youth representation within VOPEs and national evaluation systems, and continued platforms, such as this forum, to keep youth leadership central to the evaluation agenda. AfrEA and the YEE Network are expected to build on these discussions in the coming months, translating the forum's insights into concrete opportunities for youth engagement ahead of the 12th AfrEA International Conference in Marrakech.

The Youth in Evaluation Forum 2026 reflects AfrEA's broader vision of building a vibrant and inclusive evaluation community where young professionals are recognised not only as future leaders, but as active contributors to shaping the future of evaluation across the continent.

The Executive Course for Evaluation Leaders (ExCEL), developed with the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy and the National University of Singapore, concluded its DRC edition on 24 April 2026, completing Phase II of the programme. The 10-day intensive course brought together 40 high-level participants from the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Niger. At the closing, the Secretary General of the Ministry of Planning reaffirmed commitments to institutionalise National Evaluation Days and establish a Community of Practice on public policy evaluation, signalling strong national ownership.

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