Dr Mark Abrahams is a senior consultant at Southern Hemisphere and a founder member of the South African Monitoring and Evaluation Association (SAMEA) and a former chairperson. Mark is the Editor-in-chief of the African Evaluation Journal, a publication of the African Evaluation Association (AfrEA). His formal training is in M&E and in development studies/education, and he has worked with culturally diverse communities, youth and women, both rural and urban, non-government organisations and a range of government departments in South Africa and beyond. Mark Abrahams is a researcher and a facilitator of learning. He has taught at high school, at Vista University, University of Cape Town, and University of the Western Cape at undergraduate and post-graduate levels. His most relevant experience to the current project is his involvement, as part of the HSRC (2016), in the final evaluation of the Access to Justice and Promotion of Constitutional Rights Programme funded by the European Union. He has also written a book chapter: The role of the civil society organisation (CSO) in promoting democracy: The case of the South African Monitoring and Evaluation Association (SAMEA) – Democratic Evaluation and Democracy – Exploring the Reality. Edited by Donna Podems: Information Age Publishing, 2017.
Other relevant experience includes:
• Facilitation of a review of the Safe Travel to School Project based at Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital.
• Lead Researcher for the development of theory of change and ME Framework for the pilot of the Installation, Repair, and Maintenance (IRM) Green Skills and TVET Pathways to Employment Initiative. For NBI and GIZ. National.
• Lead Researcher for the Evaluation of PrimTED Project. Mathematics and Literacy curricula change for initial teacher education. For Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET). National
• Lead Researcher for the Evaluation of the CHEC/Western Cape Government Annual Research Partnership Programme. Regional
Senior Researcher for diagnostic evaluation of Community Based Workers in South Africa. For Departments of Social Development (DSD) and Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation (DPME) 2018.
Design evaluation of the Gauteng City Region Anti-corruption Strategy and Integrity Programme. Gauteng Office of the Premier. 2018.
Project Manager for Implementation Evaluation of TVET College expansion and capacity development programme, for DHET and DPME. National, 2017
Evaluation of the CHEC/ Western Cape Government Annual Research programme.
Completed several assessments of national evaluations as part of DPME quality assurance processes, including: A baseline assessment for future impact evaluation of informal settlements targeted for upgrading: Implementation evaluation of Western Cape Government Corporate Service Centre: Implementation evaluation of the Citizen Based Monitoring (CBM) Model, Management Performance Assessment Tool (MPAT): Urban Settlements Development Grant (USDG). 2015-2017.
Senior Researcher for the evaluation of the Moshal Scholarship Foundation in South African Higher Education, 2017.
Assessing the capacity and administrative capabilities of the M&E Unit in the Office of the Premier, Mpumalanga province. 2016.