The influence of local ownership and politics of the use of evaluations in policy making: The case of the public procurement evaluation in Uganda

Abstract

The capacity of policy makers to use evidence was raised, and that policy makers’ background influences their ability to interpret evidence. Policymakers should understand the value of evidence in policy decisions and how to interpret it to motivate them to use the evidence. The president of Uganda is a leading proponent of public sector reforms and has on several occasions made political proclamations that set the precedent for reforms. The Evaluation Sub-Committee is an initiative within Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) to support public sector evaluations through technical guidance and is composed of experts from development partners, OPM, Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development, Uganda Bureau of Statistics and the Economic Policy Research Centre at Makerere University. Mechanisms critical to ensuring use of the evaluation findings included processes and structures that enabled ownership and trust in the process.