Government To Roll Out Device To Ensure Effective Evaluation

The Ministry of Monitoring and Evaluation in collaboration with the National Development Planning Commission will roll out an electronic dashboard across the Ministries to help communicate data and changes on government programmes to multiple audiences.

The electronic dashboard will be a management tool to regularly update information and support learning and improvements at the Ministries for effective monitoring and evaluation of government programmes.

The dashboard will also play a vital role in improving data analysis, reporting and data visualisation.

Dr Anthony Akoto Osei, Minister for Monitoring and Evaluation announced this in Accra at a stakeholder’s validation workshop of Government Results Framework for Priority Programmes.

Dr Osei said the Ministry had worked with the entire sector Ministries to develop the framework which was validated in 2017 and was being updated for the second validation.

He explained that the framework clarifies a set of clear goals and targets that must be achieved by each sector Ministry.

Dr Osei said crafting a government framework for the Ministries serve as a platform for continuous and real time monitoring of government flagship policies and programmes, which was hinged on inter-ministerial collaboration, consensus building and learning.

He said President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo established the Ministry not as a policing agency to look over the shoulders of other Ministers, rather to play a pivotal role in ensuring that the strategic priorities of government were fully implemented and monitored to deliver tangible and efficient results.

He said government was determined to bring the needed transformational change, improve the economy and create jobs to enhance the livelihoods of citizens in a sustainable manner.

According to the Minister, one way to attain transformational change and achieve the vision of the country’s ‘Ghana Beyond Aid’ (GBA) was through real time monitoring and evaluation to drive results of the priority policies and programmes.

He said their outfit was working together to collect real time data to generate reports that would keep the President and the Cabinet abreast with implementation progress, adding that real time performance monitoring would help correct obstacles to implementation.

“We have introduced a colour-coded system to communicate findings of our performance monitoring results. We have embarked on an in-depth performance review of all 2017 priority programmes and the report would be submitted to the President and the cabinet for review”, he added.

Dr Yaw Ansu, the Senior Advisor to the Minister of Finance, speaking on the country’s policy on GBA said, for the policy to become reality, there should be a paradigm and fundamental shift in the way Ghana carried out its activities.

He said to transform the country’s economy to one of developed countries, Ghanaians would have to rely less on government and industrialise through private sector involvement and investments.

Dr Ansu said the country was currently able to save only 13 per cent of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and would have to increase its savings to 40 per cent if it wants the economy to be beyond aid.

He said to make the GBA initiative feasible, the country would have to ensure a consistently 10 per cent of its GDP growth increase for the span designated to implement the policy, stating that it would not be easy but with the collective efforts of all it would be possible.