My bio

I am a South African evaluation and transformation specialist. I am also a natural scientist with a PhD in Ecological Chemistry, but now mostly using social sciences in my work. I am a citizen of the Global South but also a Global Citizen who has travelled widely, learning from other cultures in my own country and beyond. This makes it easy for me to span disciplinary, sector, geographic, generational and philosophical boundaries.

I care deeply about justice, about living in harmony with nature, about all lives being of equal value. I strive to bridge cultures and knowledge systems, and to understand and blend diverse perspectives and ideologies. This is necessary, as I work across the world from local to global level, doing or facilitating the design and evaluation of institutions, networks, partnerships, strategies, portfolios and programmes aimed at everything from incremental reforms to urgently needed transformations.

I therefore study and work in practice with how, why, for whom, under what conditions, and at what cost change 'works', particularly in this polycrisis-turning-permacrisis era. I am keenly interested in transformative development, where organizations, groups, coalitions or societies shift trajectory not through a single intervention, but through the accumulated choices, reforms and disruptions that alter what is possible.

I work on the ground with what 'success' really means in different contexts and societal values when trying to achieve lasting positive impact or large-scale transformation. And I experience every day why so many well-intentioned efforts fall short. This is the real strength of evaluation in practice; we engage in-depth with the 'insides' of ongoing efforts to do better, to get positive impacts, to transform.

To do all this I draw on evaluative thinking and practice, 'living systems' or complexity sciences, societal philosophies, futures thinking, and even some aspects of physical sciences, biomimicry and neurobiology. I continuously track global shifts, trends and risks, and move easily between the macro and micro. I care about trajectories more than static snapshots, and always have the bigger picture in mind.

I use AI where it adds value, but the thinking is (still) all mine!

I am a generalist evaluator, with experience in more than 40 areas as diverse as climate change, conservation, intercultural/interreligious dialogue, child labour, entrepreneurship, policy influence, and institutional research strategy and excellence. I have visited around 90 and have on-the-ground experience in more than 40 countries.

I have served in advisory capacities for many organisations, including the World Conservation Union (IUCN), UN Development Programme (UNDP), the Vaccine Alliance (GAVI), International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), CGIAR system, Blue Marble Evaluation, Mastercard Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation and more. Most recently I serve as South African member on the five-person High-Level Evaluation Advisory Committee of the Independent Evaluation Office (IEO) of the BRICS New Development Bank (NDB).

As a South African, I focus on the Global South and especially on my continents — Africa and Asia — where among others I helped initiate what is today known as 'Made in Africa Evaluation' (MAE), the African Women in Science Empowerment Model (AWSEM), as well as the Research Quality Plus (RQ+) framework and assessment instrument for development research.

I have held leadership positions including as President of the African Evaluation Association (AfrEA), and Vice-President of the global associations IOCE and IDEAS. I initiated the South African M&E Association (SAMEA), was the first American Evaluation Association (AEA) Board Member living outside North America, and first Council Chair of the International Evaluation Academy (IEAc). I was a Steward in the SDG Transformations Forum, in Bounce Beyond and in Financing Ecosystems for Systemic Transformation (FEST).

I have taught modules at universities on four continents, served in editorial advisory positions for four international journals, and held visiting and honorary professorships in Japan and South Africa. I am a Richard von Weizsäcker Fellow at the Robert Bosch Academy in Berlin, and was a fellow at the Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Studies (STIAS) some years ago.

Before turning to evaluation, I was Director of Research at the University of Pretoria and a grants portfolio manager at a South African national science council, where I focused on institutional research capacity development in 13 (at the time known as 'historically black') universities, urban and rural development, agrifood systems and biotechnology. This scientific foundation still shapes how I think about capacities and capabilities, about knowledge and evidence.

I am currently based in Geneva, Switzerland — a great country, but South Africa will always remain home!