Rabat: Moroccan Abdelilah Hifdi has been elected President of the African Parliamentarians Network for Development Evaluation (APNODE) during its 10th General Assembly. The assembly also saw the appointment of Musa Njingum from Cameroon as Vice President and Nestor Tohouegnon Noutai from Benin as Treasurer of its Executive Bureau.

According to Agence Marocaine De Presse, other elected members of the Executive Bureau include Elise Pokossy Doumbe and Solange Kwarmba, deputies from the National Assembly of Cameroon, along with Edmonde Tagnonnanon Fonton, a deputy from the National Assembly of Benin. During the event, Hifdi highlighted three main priorities for the new Executive Bureau: establishing parliamentary evaluation functions within each African parliament, strengthening regional cooperation, and aligning APNODE initiatives with the African Union’s Agenda 2063 and the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.

Hifdi further explained that two strategic decisions were made during the assembly to guide future African parliamentary actions. The first decision entails the adoption of the African Parliamentary Evaluation Pact as a framework for institutionalizing evaluation within democratic governance. The second involves launching an African Parliamentary Observatory for Development Evaluation, aimed at promoting best practices in evaluation and legislative impact across the continent.

The 10th General Assembly, themed “APNODE: A Leveraging Tool for Improving Public Policy Evaluation for Inclusive Governance,” aims to reaffirm the political commitment to evaluation in Africa. It seeks to strengthen legislative frameworks and promote regional cooperation as African countries assess progress under Agenda 2030 and Agenda 2063.

The meeting serves as a crucial moment for APNODE, providing a platform for consultation, institutional monitoring, and exchange of experiences, thereby contributing to the development of an African culture of evaluation to enhance effective, transparent, and results-based public governance.