New evaluation of DFID's work in South Africa

18 August 2010

As part of DFID’s commitment to rigorously evaluate its country programmes, our work in South Africa from 2004 to 2009 was evaluated by a group of independent external consultants in 2010.  The evaluation’s particular focus was on the period since 2006.

The evaluation aimed to first, provide an account of the performance of the programme over this period; with results, lessons and recommendations for South Africa and DFID globally.

This evaluation report was completed prior to the UK 2010 election.

Evaluation findings

The authors of the report found, among other things, that while performance against the specific output targets in the Regional Plan was not very good, due in part to inappropriate outputs and hard to measure indicators, in practice, results have been more positive.

The authors found a reduction in transport costs and an opening up of the region for trade have all been achieved. Within South Africa, employment opportunities and the employment promotion policy have seen significant attributable results. Financial markets have also been effectively supported by DFID South Africa.

Also, the regional and national AIDS policy and services have made a significant contribution, although institutional support in the water and food security sectors has yet to yield measurable results.

For more, read the full report and evaluation summary under 'Related publications'. (Please note that minor alterations are being completed and the final PDFs will be available at the beginning of September 2010.) 

Background of South Africa

Just over 16 years since its first democratic elections, South Africa is an important player in the southern Africa region, accounting for about 70% of the region’s GDP. It is also an increasingly important actor on the global stage, as the only African member of the G20 and hosted the first FIFA World Cup.

Southern Africa, defined by the boundaries of the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC), forms a well defined and coherent geo-political region. Despite its dominance in the region and stronger outward facing economy, South Africa still faces development challenges that can benefit from appropriate bilateral support, based on partnerships that respond to its specific context.