English | Français

West Africa Capacity-building and Impact Evaluation

The West Africa Capacity-building and Impact Evaluation (WACIE) program is a multi-year regional initiative that aims to promote the institutionalization of evaluation in government systems across eight countries of the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU): Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo.

To access the WACIE Rapid Response Helpdesk, please click the red button below.

Helpdesk

West Africa Capacity-building and Impact Evaluation

WACIE aims to promote evidence-informed decision-making among high-level policymakers in West Africa, especially those within the finance, economy and planning ministries. We envision a West African policy environment where leaders draw upon evidence and inform their decisions with rigorous research, complemented by a robust regional evaluation community which contributes to that evidence base. The program's current efforts are focused on three work streams: 1) providing actionable and timely information for decision-making through the WACIE Helpdesk; 2) generating capacity and adding depth and visibility to local researchers and policymakers; and 3) supporting the generation of rigorous, demand-driven evidence in the region by implementing evaluations with local teams and supporting those conducting evaluations. The program is supported by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the West African Economic and Monetary Union, and the West African Development Bank, among others.

Each country differs in how it structures its institutions charged with producing evaluations and incorporating their findings into policy decisions. WACIE has mapped out the evaluation systems of each WAEMU country, drawing from the expertise of our on-the-ground focal points in each WAEMU country and a scoping study conducted by a Johns Hopkins University team. Visit our page on WAEMU national evaluation systems to learn more about the institutional arrangements in each country, their strengths, and the challenges they face.

Timeline entries

Project inception

Multi-year grants received for the inception of the WACIE program.

Scoping study awarded

John Hopkins University awarded the contract to conduct the WACIE scoping study. This exercise was aimed at identifying key stakeholders, as well as identify key needs and expectations for each stakeholder group in regards to impact evaluations for the eight countries that comprise the program.

Establishment of WACIE Secretariat in Cotonou, Benin

Establishment of WACIE Secretariat in Cotonou, Benin

WACIE launch at the Benin Evaluation Days conference, Cotonou, Benin

Over 300 attendees from West Africa and beyond attended the conference. Abdoulaye Gounou from the Government of Benin and Sara Pacqué-Margolis, former 3ie Washington Office director at were keynote speakers. The WACIE program was formally introduced,  and special workshops were held with the  the focal points to discuss our mission, design the WACIE logo, and establish the next steps of the program.

Evidence 2018 conference by Africa Evidence Network, Pretoria, South Africa

Anca Dumitrescu, Senior Program Manager at 3ie, and Deo-Gracias Houndolo, WACIE Secretariat Regional Coordinator, attended the conference. Deo participated on a panel on networking between Francophone and Anglophone Africa: Bridging the post-colonial divide. The conference provided an opportunity to publicize WACIE and explore collaborations between the Francophone and Anglophone worlds.

Global Evidence and Implementation Summit 2018, Melbourne, Australia

Abdoulaye Gounou, WACIE Government of Benin representative, attended this summit where he spoke on the panel “Building Responsible Government” and presented on the WACIE program.

The first official conference of the WACIE programme, Cotonou, Benin

The first WACIE conference hosted over 130 attendees, including funders, implementers, regional multilateral institutions, and government officials. The conference was a three day bilingual event with the first day dedicated to WACIE and the preliminary year 1 findings and the remaining time for workshops, regional panels, and other topics of interest. The conference established the WACIE program as a resource for impact evaluations in West Africa.

Meeting with West African Development Bank (BOAD), Lomé, Togo

Representatives from the WACIE Secretariat, 3ie and the Government of Benin met with the president of BOAD. They discussed BOAD’s support of WACIE, upcoming activities, and future collaborations.

African Evaluation Association conference, Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire

Deo-Gracias Houndoulo and Anca Dumitrescu represented WACIE at the African Evaluation Association conference. They presented on the finding of the WACIE scoping study and had a poster presentation.

Capacity building training, Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire

The WACIE program conducted a three-day training with 46 M&E directors from the national ministries in Côte D’Ivoire. The training provided the attendees with options to develop more rigorous monitoring and evaluation plans.

CLEAR gLOCAL webinars

The WACIE program hosted a webinar in French with Twende Mbele to discuss how strengthening national evaluation systems can facilitate funding and implementation of impact evaluations. There were 30 attendees. In a second webinar, the WACIE Secretariat discussed evidence gap map methodology and its use in WAEMU countries. 20 attendees were present at this webinar.

Workshop by the ILO, Innovations for Poverty Action, and the Agence Francaise de Developpement, Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire

Anca Dumitrescu was invited to participate in a workshop organized by the ILO, Innovations for Poverty Action, and the Agence Francaise de Developpement, on impact evaluation of youth employment programmes in the Sahel region. Fourteen proposal teams from West Africa participated in the workshop, which was followed by a public conference with policymakers, African Development Bank, World Bank, and other regional experts. Anca was one of several evaluation experts tasked with providing technical assistance to proposal teams, and participating in several panels on the priorities of technical and financial partners in the framework of impact evaluations.