Max Sibanda

Head of Programs, Southern Africa
Phone: +32 9 398 8874
Email: info@devgrad.org
Nyamadzawo Max Sibanda is a Zimbabwe-born, South African-based Local Development Practitioner, with expertise in Programme design and Management, Local Governance, Development Evaluation, and Political Economy Analysis. His seven-year experience spans between public and civil society sector, with interests in social policy, which include youth development, social security, international migration and development, African education policy, local (community and regional) development, and poverty and inequality analysis and alleviation. Through formal education and practical experience, Max has acquired several tools in designing and managing local development programmes (including national and institutional M&E systems; different types of assessments – baseline, evaluability, needs, process, end-line, impact, and meta-evaluations). Max has also researched the importance of evaluation use and influence, and Utilization-Focused Evaluation (UFE), in achieving evidence-based policymaking and governance. In addition, between 2013 and 2017, he worked with different community and faith-based organizations in Zimbabwe and South Africa, which were mainly focused on women and youth development. Mostly as a programme design and M&E consultant.

In Zimbabwe, he worked with the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace (CCJP), particularly in designing the 2017-2020 programme and the M&E system. Since 2013, he has been engaged with Mariannhill Mission Institute (MMI), a faith-based organization in Zimbabwe, in conceptualizing a youth development programme that targeted former graduates of the National Youth Service (NYS) in Zimbabwe, most of whom had perpetrated violent crimes in the 2008 election period. In South Africa, Max briefly worked with Lima Rural Development as part of the planning and M&E team, in which he substantially contributed to design of the M&E system for a women-run co-operatives funded by Department of Social Development. In 2018, he joined Nemai Consulting, as an M&E Consultant and personal advisor to the Director. In this capacity, Max helped plan several impact evaluation projects for a number of government urban development programmes, including the Violence Prevention through Urban Upgrading (VPUU) – a major urban regeneration programme in the Western Cape Province. In addition, Max has had four years experience lecturing development policy and academic development between the universities of KwaZulu Natal (UKZN) and Durban University of Technology.

Max holds a Master’s degree in Development Evaluation and Management from the University of Antwerp in Belgium, a Master’s and an Honors’ in Policy and Development Studies, and a Bachelor’s degree in Philosophy from the University of KwaZulu Natal. Through these academic credentials, he has gained technical expertise in Public Policy Analysis, Political Economy Analysis and Development Evaluation and Management, which he has constantly applied in different aspects of social policy research and practice, focusing on the Southern African (SADC) Region. Currently, Max is employed as an Academic Development Practitioner in the faculty of Health Sciences, at the Durban University of Technology, while in a process of completing his Ph.D. in Local Economic development, with the University of KwaZulu Natal.