Government appraises self
Jul 29, 2007
UGANDA'S poverty levels have reduced from 56% in 1992/93 to 31% in 2005/06, thanks to the Government’s effort to fight poverty and ensuring economic growth through the Poverty Eradication Action Plan (PEAP).
Catherine Ntabadde
UGANDA'S poverty levels have reduced from 56% in 1992/93 to 31% in 2005/06, thanks to the Government’s effort to fight poverty and ensuring economic growth through the Poverty Eradication Action Plan (PEAP).
It is hoped that poverty levels will reduce further if the situation in northern Uganda stabilises. Introduced in 1997, the PEAP is Uganda’s national planning framework that sets out the policy actions that the Government implements.
However, the questions to be asked are;
How does the Government know that it has achieved the targets set out in its planning framework?
Is there a harmonised monitoring and evaluation framework that can allow the Government to appraise its performance?
Yes, the Government assesses its programmes using the national Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) Strategy to measure set targets against achieved results to improve the quality and effectiveness of the services it delivers.
Traditionally, the strategy has been carried out using different systems in ministries and local governments.
However, in 2003, the Government introduced an integrated M&E system, the National Integrated Monitoring and Evaluation Strategy (NIMES) to cover all the M&E systems. A secretariat for NIMES was set up in the Office of the Prime Minister to oversee the roll out of this strategy.
Under NIMES, the Government in 2006 introduced the Annual PEAP Implementation Review (APIR), to keep the implementation of PEAP on track.
Through the APIR, the Government examines and assesses its performance, using the five pillars of the PEAP, which are:
Economic management
Enhancing production, competitiveness and incomes
Conflict resolution and disaster management
Good governance
Human development
APIR’s overall objective is to improve planning, budgeting and implementation of activities leading to the realisation of PEAP outputs and outcomes and provide inputs to current adjustments of the PEAP.
At the inception of the APIR process, a number of consultations were carried out to introduce it to the stakeholders. There were also other consultations to inform the stakeholders about its progress and activities undertaken for the entire process.
The outcome of the APIR 2006 is a report which discusses the status and progress of the five thematic areas, challenges and recommendations of the PEAP.
In January 2007, the APIR draft report was disseminated to stakeholders.
Comments to the draft report were submitted to the NIMES secretariat, which organised the APIR National stakeholder consultation workshops on the report in February 2007. Over 200 stakeholders from the Government, development partners, NGOs and the civil society participated in the consultations.
The report has also been disseminated to local governments through regional workshops. On completion, the report will be launched by the Prime Minister who will also present it to Cabinet and Parliament.
The APIR will help decision- makers to formulate policies that are in line with the PEAP. This is an important part of the Government because it institutes a mechanism that allows (the Government to manage the country basing on the results achieved.
Although this is the first time a review process based on monitoring and evaluation results is being conducted for all government programmes, the framework offers potential for putting in place a mechanism that allows tracking government performance. Such reports should be used to debate and agree on the best policies that will move the country forward.
The writer is a communications consultant, office of the Prime Minister/ Nordic Consulting Group
UGANDA'S poverty levels have reduced from 56% in 1992/93 to 31% in 2005/06, thanks to the Government’s effort to fight poverty and ensuring economic growth through the Poverty Eradication Action Plan (PEAP).
It is hoped that poverty levels will reduce further if the situation in northern Uganda stabilises. Introduced in 1997, the PEAP is Uganda’s national planning framework that sets out the policy actions that the Government implements.
However, the questions to be asked are;
Yes, the Government assesses its programmes using the national Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) Strategy to measure set targets against achieved results to improve the quality and effectiveness of the services it delivers.
Traditionally, the strategy has been carried out using different systems in ministries and local governments.
However, in 2003, the Government introduced an integrated M&E system, the National Integrated Monitoring and Evaluation Strategy (NIMES) to cover all the M&E systems. A secretariat for NIMES was set up in the Office of the Prime Minister to oversee the roll out of this strategy.
Under NIMES, the Government in 2006 introduced the Annual PEAP Implementation Review (APIR), to keep the implementation of PEAP on track.
Through the APIR, the Government examines and assesses its performance, using the five pillars of the PEAP, which are:
APIR’s overall objective is to improve planning, budgeting and implementation of activities leading to the realisation of PEAP outputs and outcomes and provide inputs to current adjustments of the PEAP.
At the inception of the APIR process, a number of consultations were carried out to introduce it to the stakeholders. There were also other consultations to inform the stakeholders about its progress and activities undertaken for the entire process.
The outcome of the APIR 2006 is a report which discusses the status and progress of the five thematic areas, challenges and recommendations of the PEAP.
In January 2007, the APIR draft report was disseminated to stakeholders.
Comments to the draft report were submitted to the NIMES secretariat, which organised the APIR National stakeholder consultation workshops on the report in February 2007. Over 200 stakeholders from the Government, development partners, NGOs and the civil society participated in the consultations.
The report has also been disseminated to local governments through regional workshops. On completion, the report will be launched by the Prime Minister who will also present it to Cabinet and Parliament.
The APIR will help decision- makers to formulate policies that are in line with the PEAP. This is an important part of the Government because it institutes a mechanism that allows (the Government to manage the country basing on the results achieved.
Although this is the first time a review process based on monitoring and evaluation results is being conducted for all government programmes, the framework offers potential for putting in place a mechanism that allows tracking government performance. Such reports should be used to debate and agree on the best policies that will move the country forward.
The writer is a communications consultant, office of the Prime Minister/ Nordic Consulting Group