Evalpreneurship in Africa: Exploring the Landscape of Supply and Demand

Abstract

In recent decades, the role of evaluation in shaping African development strategies has undergone a significant transformation, emerging as a powerful tool for evidence-based decision-making, accountability, and learning. Concurrently, Africa's dynamic entrepreneurial landscape, guided by innovation hubs and a resilient informal sector, plays a pivotal role in tackling challenges like unemployment and poverty while fostering robust economic growth. Despite recognizing the vital roles of evaluation and entrepreneurship, their intersection remains largely unexplored in scholarly discourse. Exploring this intersection yields insights into the intricate integration of entrepreneurial practices into evaluation work, as evidenced by Sabarre's groundbreaking study on "evalpreneurship in the USA" (2021). Building on Lemire, Nielsen, and Christie's foundational work (2018), Sabarre's research delves into the structural aspects of the evaluation marketplace, particularly the influence exerted by evaluation entrepreneurs. However, these discussions predominantly focus on the global north, necessitating a similar scrutiny in the African context. This paper aims to bridge this gap by contributing to the existing literature. It investigates the supply and demand landscape of the African evaluation marketplace. Using a literature review methodology, the paper draws on diverse sources, including research articles, policy documents, and reports spanning two decades. Employing the "emergent evaluation market framework" as a structured lens, the study provides insights into buyer-seller interactions and the exchange of evaluation services within Africa, as demonstrated in studies by Lemire et al. (2018). The findings illuminate the current and historical context of evaluation commissioning in Africa, emphasizing the roles and contributions of key players in the supply chain. Additionally, the paper explores external factors acting as enablers or barriers to the influence of entrepreneurs on the supply and demand of evaluations in Africa. The research underscores the transformative potential of evalpreneurship in driving the decolonization of evaluation and dismantling white supremacy in the continent's development. In advocating for contextually relevant, culturally responsive, and Made in Africa evaluation practices, the paper calls for further research on Africa-based evaluation entrepreneurs to understand their evolving roles in shaping evaluation supply and demand