Study Monitoring and Evaluation, urges WSG alumnus

People often think the saying, “the jack of all trades and master of none” is a bad thing. It is actually not, if you read the history of this idiom, which is “Jack of all trades is a master of none, but oftentimes better than a master of one”.  Why am I telling you this? Because we have a “Jack” in our School, a graduate and employee at the Wits School of Governance (WSG).

Mirriam Sibanda, Operations Manager at the WSG successfully graduated from our Postgraduate Diploma in the field of Public Development Sector Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) in 2021.

You will often find her running around the Parktown Management campus trying to fix a problem or help someone or arrange a get well basket when she is not behind her computer multitasking, which is the nature of her job.

Sibanda decided to study this programme because she feels M&E is an emerging discipline and practice, particularly in the public sector. The nature of M&E helps deal with governance challenges because it promotes the ethos of transparency, integrity, accountability, justice, and inclusivity.

“This is what sparked my curiosity to understand more about the subject. The experience was both humbling and harrowing. It compelled me to juggle between my work and academic work while in the middle of the global pandemic (and while working from home) in ways that I have never experienced before, or even imagined.

“One of my biggest challenges was to maintain a delicate balancing act between my three jobs: academic work, family responsibility and management responsibilities at work during the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic, while working from home. However, strict time management, commitment, dedication and my undying pursuit of excellence in all the three jobs pulled me through,” she added.

“For what she lacked, time in this case, she compensated with being critical and conscious about where the course is taking her or should take her. She easily grasps academic concepts and processes. However, it is her writing that took the cup. It is rare to see student assignments that are nicely written addressing a common reader to communicate an academic message,” said Associate Professor Kambidima Wotela, an M&E lecturer and now Academic Director at the School.

One of the most important lessons Sibanda learnt was how to develop and execute inputs, processes, throughputs, outputs, outcomes and impacts of the School’s programmes and policies in ways that are S.M.A.R.T (i.e. specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time bound).

“I will definitely recommend this too everyone but especially those in governance spaces, to do the PDM and thereafter its Master’s and PhD.”

If you are like Sibanda and have a lot on your plate but want to study, heed her advice.

“While the road may be bumpy, considering the rigoristic and intense nature of the programme, the M&E skills, knowledge, and abilities one is going to get is profound and worth the time and resources invested."