Mapping University-Based Evaluator Education Programs in African Higher Education Institutions

Recent trends reveal that more African universities are introducing prolonged and structured evaluator education programs (EEPs) to meet the field’s growing demand. Our study of 110 African EEPs revealed unique contextual adaptations across diverse African academic landscapes, local innovations and strategic responses to regional and national development challenges. We found that EEPs are influenced by institutional contexts and systemic forces that shape curriculum development and implementation effectiveness, yet some EEPs actively engage with the broader evaluation community to bridge national and regional evaluation capacity gaps and infuse dynamic pedagogical strategies to overcome these challenges. This study expands our knowledge on evaluator education from a global perspective. Participants will engage in a dialogue on how to build a more inclusive and responsive evaluator education ecosystem that reflects African priorities and realities. This research offers actionable insights for multiple stakeholders, including students, evaluation educators, practitioners, policymakers and the field of evaluation.

Aileen Reid, Ph.D. – Assistant Professor and Co-Director, STEM Program Evaluation Lab (SPEL), Information, Library and Research Sciences, Information, Library and Research Sciences, UNC Greensboro; Eunice Oduro, MS – Graduate Student, Information, Library and Research Sciences, UNC Greensboro