aid effectiveness

Building Responsible Government: Benin's National Evaluation System, 2007-2015

Author
Pallavi Nuka and Khady Thiam
Focus Area(s)
Country of Reform
Abstract

Beginning in 2007, Benin’s reformist leaders sought to strengthen the quality of governance and public management by instituting a system for evaluating public policies. National policies and programs often had little impact on development outcomes, and existing systems for monitoring and evaluating government initiatives were largely donor driven and designed to fit donors’ needs. As a result, the government struggled to define, prioritize, and coordinate policies within and across disparate sectors like agriculture, health, and education. With the support of newly elected president, Boni Yayi, Pascal Koupaki, Benin’s minister for planning, development and evaluation, created a bureau for policy evaluation to analyze public policies across different ministries, assess their impacts, and recommend improvements. Given the prevalence of inefficiency and ineffectiveness, the idea of evaluation initially enjoyed little political support. However, a small team based in Koupaki’s ministry, gradually built national evaluation capacities and increased internal demand for policy evaluation. By 2015, the bureau had become a permanent part of the administration, completed more than a dozen evaluation studies, and inspired the establishment of national evaluation mechanisms in West African neighbors Togo, Burkina Faso, and Mali.

Pallavi Nuka, ISS Associate Director, and Khady Thiam, of Sciences Po's Paris School of International Affairs drafted this case study based on interviews conducted in Cotonou and Abidjan in September 2015. This case study was funded by the French Development Agency. Case published April 2016.

Dan Hymowitz

Ref Batch
C
Focus Area(s)
Ref Batch Number
2
Critical Tasks
Country of Reform
Interviewers
Michael Scharff
Name
Dan Hymowitz
Interviewee's Position
Program Manager
Interviewee's Organization
Philanthropy Secretariat
Language
English
Nationality of Interviewee
American
Town/City
Princeton, NJ
Country
Date of Interview
Reform Profile
No
Abstract
In this interview, Dan Hymowitz discusses the creation of Liberia’s Philanthropy Secretariat, a unit in the Office of the President designed to attract and coordinate philanthropic funding across sectors in Liberia. Hymowitz notes that the idea for a Philanthropy Secretariat took root in the wake of a prolonged civil war, in which Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, eager to rebuild, sought to match foundation funding with local organizations that were addressing her top priorities. Hymowitz discusses the critical steps that ensured the early success of the Philanthropy Secretariat: namely, support from the President, a dedicated staff led by a high level civil servant who won the respect of donors, and a group of funders eager to support the President’s efforts to rebuild.  
 
Profile
From 2008 to 2009, Hymowitz was Special Assistant to Mr. Natty Davis, then Minister of State without Portfolio, through the Scott Family Fellows Program. Hymowitz’s position gave him access to the discussions between the government and foundations and the opportunity to develop the Philanthropy Secretariat as both sides brainstormed the creation of a government office dedicated to working with foundations. From 2009 to 2011 he was the program manager for Liberia’s Philanthropy Secretariat. In these positions, he played a central role in planning Liberia’s 2008 Partners’ Forum, which raised nearly $300 million in foreign assistance. Dan Hymowitz holds a master’s degree of Public Policy from UC Berkeley and a bachelor’s degree from Tufts University. 
Full Audio File Size
80 MB
Full Audio Title
Dan Hymowitz - Full Interview