Malaika Evaluate bridges data and creativity to empower Africa’s cultural economy

Developed by Andani.Africa, the new platform helps creative organizations across the continent transform fragmented information into strategic insight and measurable impact.

Molemo Moiloa, executive director at Andani.Africa. 

In a bid to strengthen Africa’s creative economy through data-driven intelligence, South African company Andani.Africa has introduced Malaika Evaluate, a platform designed to help cultural and creative organizations manage, analyse and learn from their own data.

For years, the creative sector has faced a visibility gap. Its impact is vast,  socially, economically, and culturally,  yet it remains underrepresented in traditional data systems. Malaika Evaluate aims to fill that gap, giving artists, cultural institutions and development partners the tools to generate evidence, track outcomes and shape better-informed strategies.

“Malaika allows organizations not only to collect and organize their data but to understand what it tells them,” explains Molemo Moiloa, executive director at Andani.Africa. “When data doesn’t reflect who we are or what we value, decisions are made without our full story. This platform helps ensure that Africa’s creative sector is represented on its own terms.”

The solution is built on the principles of monitoring, evaluation, accountability and learning (MEAL), refined through Andani.Africa’s years of research in the field. By centralizing data collection, analysis, and reporting, Malaika simplifies the process for under-resourced arts organizations, reducing administrative effort while enhancing the quality and consistency of their impact reports.

The platform also incorporates machine learning to help standardize data and enable comparative insights across projects and regions, a first for many creative networks in Africa.

“With Malaika, our data scientist is developing algorithms that bring structure and comparability to MEAL data,” adds Moiloa. “It’s an exciting intersection between culture and technology, one that has the potential to redefine how we measure creative value.”