Let's strengthen monitoring of performance

A forum on the Performance, Monitoring, and Evaluation of the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) on various developmental projects and programmes has been held at Yendi.

It was organised by Northern Development Society (NORDESO) with the Netherlands Development Organisation (SNV), both non-governmental organizations, under the Local Government Capacity Support project, and attended by over 140 people from the Yendi Municipality.

Topics discussed included the Concept of Performance Monitoring and Evaluation System and Applicable Social Accountability Tools in Performance Monitoring.

Mr Jacob Mansu, Project Coordinator of NORDESO, said performance monitoring and evaluation was a critical component in every well-functioning institution as it helped in establishing the degree of citizens’ satisfaction of social services delivered.

It also provided the relevant feedback to service providers and donors, he said.

Mr Mansu, therefore, urged the citizenry to keep track as well as monitor and evaluate the impacts of government projects on the intended beneficiaries.

He said if the citizenry effectively conducted data on responsiveness of public service delivery, using participatory performance monitoring tools such as community score-cards and reports cards, it could influence policy at various levels of governance.

He stated that although monitoring and evaluation took place during implementation, it should be developed as part of the project design to ensure performance-based results.

The participants appealed to MMDAs to involve communities in their programmes to ensure that projects sited in their areas were well executed.