Linda Khumalo

Dr. Linda Khumalo is a social development enthusiast with over eight years of hands-on experience in Monitoring, Evaluation, Research, Learning (MERL), and evidence-informed policy decision-making initiatives. Linda has rich experience in public and private sector evaluations, data management processes, developing MEL systems, and performance improvement projects in the African continent. She has also expanded her expertise to a more global setting. As an OTT associate, Linda leads a project developing China Dialogue Trust’s MEL system and supporting a culture of organisational learning and improvement. She is also supporting the Collective Leadership and Global Learning for Community Impact Teach for All network evaluation. Linda’s expertise has focused on strengthening evidence systems to improve organisational management systems and the effective use of data in supporting learning and policymaking. Linda has successfully facilitated evaluation capacity-building workshops and actively collaborated on projects developing M&E systems, such as with the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ) and the African Tax Administration Forum, to enhance organisational performance. In her work with the Centre for Learning on Evaluation and Results (CLEAR-AA) spanning four years, she worked with African parliaments and other government stakeholders, facilitating evidence use in policy and decision making and advocating for the use of evaluation results for greater development outcomes. She has also participated in digital MEL innovations through online facilitatory platforms to enhance MEL capacity, facilitate the credible use of research and evidence, and bridge the gap between the production and use of evidence. In her work, Linda has engaged with various stakeholders in different parts of the evidence and policy cycle. For example, building the capacity of MPs to access and use evidence for policy making and coordinating with knowledge brokers such as evidence use networks, civil society, academia, and other think tanks.