As the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development enters its final phase, the demand for robust, institutionalised evaluation systems across Africa has intensified. This urgency is driven by the need for accountability, evidence-informed policymaking and demonstrable development impact have made monitoring and evaluation (M&E) central to effective governance. In this context, policymakers and development actors increasingly recognise that credible, contextually grounded evidence is essential for tackling complex challenges. It is here that CLEAR Anglophone Africa (CLEAR-AA) plays an essential role, strengthening evaluation systems, fostering local ownership of evidence and building capacity to generate and use data for informed decision and policy making.

Since the establishment of CLEAR-AA in 2011 the Centre has become a valuable and trusted partner to governments, non-government, development partner institutions and practitioners in and outside the boundaries of the African continent. Through its work in strengthening evaluation systems, capacity building/strengthening and advancing research and learning, the Centre continues to contribute to a more robust and responsive evaluation ecosystem in Africa as well as contribution to the monitoring and evaluation scholarship. CLEAR-AA is committed to more than technical excellence – but also to ensuring that evaluation serves as a tool for accountability, learning, adaptive management and improved decision-making for better service delivery.

The year 2025 marked a defining moment in the evolution of CLEAR-AA, as the Centre was strategically positioned within the Wits School of Governance. This transition represents more than an institutional realignment, it signals a deliberate strengthening of the Centre’s location within a Faculty that is deeply committed to public leadership, governance and evidence-informed policy and decision making. By anchoring CLEAR-AA within this intellectual home, the School reinforces evaluation as a cornerstone of effective good governance, while creating new opportunities for CLEAR-AA’s continental experience to be integrated into teaching and learning and research within the School.  As a Faculty, we regard this as a significant step toward building more responsive, accountable and inclusive public systems across Africa, systems grounded in evidence, strengthened by evaluation research and oriented towards lasting impact.

A great example of the Centre’s commitment to building skills and knowledge was bringing the International Program for Development Evaluation Training (IPDET) to the African soil for the first time. Held in Nairobi, Kenya, from November 3–7, 2025, and run with the University of Bern in Switzerland, the event brought together 98 evaluation experts from 28 countries. It was a major step in making evaluation training more regional and showed CLEAR-AA’s growing role in the global evaluation community.

CLEAR-AA continued to deepen its thematic focus through a grant from the Ford Foundation in New York expanding its niche in equity-responsive evaluation and governance. Under this initiative, the Centre provided targeted training and advisory support to the national governments of the United Republic of Tanzania and the Republic of Uganda. This work continues in FY2026 and spreading to other countries. These engagements were designed to strengthen governance systems capacity to better reflect and respond to issues of gender equality, social inclusion and systemic inequity thereby contributing meaningfully to broader policy debates around equitable and inclusive development.

Looking ahead to 2026, CLEAR-AA is poised to significantly expand its footprint in strengthening country-level M&E systems through the implementation of the Global Evaluation Initiative (GEI) 2.0 of the World Bank, its funder. The Centre has already received Expressions of Interest from six countries of Kenya, Zimbabwe, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania and Eswatini, a testament to the growing regional recognition of CLEAR-AA’s technical leadership and the critical work that lies ahead. Each of these engagements represents not only a country-level investment in M&E capacity but a broader commitment to building the evidence ecosystems that sustainable development requires.

The Faculty extends its sincere gratitude to the GEI for its continued support of CLEAR-AA. As the Centre embarks on its next chapter under the GEI 2.0 Strategy we are confident in its ability to continue driving evaluation practice and scholarship across Africa. We are also delighted to welcome Dr Takuna Chirau as the new Director of CLEAR-AA as of January 2026. Dr Chirau’s area of expertise is in National Evaluation Systems, a core part of the work of the organisation. In additional to his academic expertise, he has a deep knowledge of what is needed to build and strengthen the organisation, and we trust he will serve as a strong anchor as CLEAR-AA continues to grow. As always, I’d like to thank the staff at CLEAR-AA for the continuous hard work and dedication in bringing to fruition the important work the the organisation does across the continent.