On 11 November 2019, the Right Hon. Mr. Justice Dr. Patrick Matibini, SC., BA, FCIArb, MP Speaker of the National Assembly of Zambia approved the setting up of the Zambian Chapter of the African Parliamentarian Network on Development Evaluation (APNODE). The Member of Parliament for Kapiri Mposhi Constituency, Mr. Stanley Kakubo, MP was appointed as Interim Chairperson and the Parliamentary Reforms Programme (PRP)-Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) Department in the Office of the Clerk, will serve as the Secretariat.  
APNODE is part of the Independent Development Evaluation Unit of the African Development Bank (AfDB). It was established in July 2015 with its headquarters in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire. Its establishment was based on the realisation of the importance of evaluation and the crucial role that parliamentarians and parliaments have in ensuring that evaluation evidence is used for strengthening decision-making on the continent.
The main objective of APNODE is to provide a forum for parliaments in Africa to make use of, and advocate for, development evaluation in order to promote effectiveness and inclusive growth on the continent. APNODE’s activities revolve around the following specific activities:
•    Raise awareness and promote knowledge amongst parliamentarians and within parliaments about the importance of using evaluative evidence for oversight, policy-making and national decision-making;

•    Enhance the capacity of parliamentarians to demand solid evaluation evidence and make use of it in parliamentary duties;

•    Encourage parliamentarians to work towards the institutionalisation of evaluation to inform evidence based decision-making and policy-making;

•    Share experiences across countries and examine the potential for international cooperation in the area of evaluation;

•    Support parliaments in ensuring that evaluations at country level are responsive to concerns of gender equality, vulnerable groups and equitable development results;

•    Assist parliamentarians in contributing to the development of a culture of evaluation and evidence based decision-making; and

•    Work to bridge the gap between evaluators and parliamentarians.
APNODE’s partners include AfDB, the Global Parliamentarian Forum for Evaluation (GPFE), Centre for Learning on Evaluation and Results-Anglophone Africa (CLEAR-AA) of the Wits University, Twende Mbele, EvalPartners, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, UNDP, UNICEF and UN-Women.
The Interim Chairperson for the Zambian Chapter of APNODE, Mr. Kakubo, MP joins the seventy (70) individual MPs from African parliaments from all regions who form APNODE. Membership to APNODE is open to all MPs, former MPs, individuals and organisations with a keen interest in development evaluation.
An official launch of the Zambian Chapter of APNODE will take place in early 2020. At the launch, the National Assembly will bring together stakeholders in development evaluation who include cooperating partners, the academia, non-governmental organisations, government institutions and the Zambia Monitoring and Evaluation Association (ZaMEA).