The National Evaluation Policy Framework (NEPF) (Department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation [DPME] 2011) sets the approach for establishing a National Evaluation System (NES) for South Africa. The undertaking of institutionalising government evaluations at a province level was piloted in the Western Cape Government (WCG) during 2012-2013, and the Province is now embarking on its seventh year of implementation.The Department of the Premier (DotP) drives evaluations in the province. The provincial institutionalisation of the NES bears significance in that the rollout resulted in an alignment to the Province-wide Monitoring and Evaluation System (PWMES). The authors of this article will reflect on the way in which the WCG of South Africa has implemented the Provincial Evaluation System (PES), and how this has evolved and matured over time. Reference is made to the findings of the recent evaluation of the NES, which selected the Western Cape (WC) as a case study. The WCG uses these findings to put improvements in place in the areas of policy, methodology, organisation, capacity, participation with other actors and use. The learnings from the provincial institutionalisation of the South African NES and its subsequent maturity, provide firm building blocks for an enabling environment that allows for the strengthening of regional evaluation ecosystems.Departments are the key stakeholders in conducting government evaluations on key programmes and projects that are aligned to transversal provincial priorities and to departmental mandates.