This article presents the findings from a diagnostic study used to determine the gender responsiveness of national monitoring and evaluation systems in Benin, South Africa and Uganda. The conclusion is that while the three countries have implemented national evaluation systems, these systems need to be complemented with inputs from the existing national gender machinery in order to make a meaningful contribution to state evaluation policies, institutions and processes. The article concludes that the three countries have a NMES that operates in parallel to their respective national gender machineries. As a result, this effort has not been systematically used in engendering NMES. The national M&E policy of each of the countries needs to be reviewed to include aspects that are relevant to gender mainstreaming, as well as to mandate the NMES to enhance the level of gender responsiveness of evaluations. This article recommends that the NMES be aligned to national development imperatives for gender equality by providing policy direction and guidelines, increasing the capacity for gender mainstreaming, and providing a mechanism that can monitor the gender responsiveness of the NMES.
