– another workshop underway

PERSONS drawn from the different Government Ministries are engaged in a Monitoring and Evaluation workshop as the government continues to place emphasis on better management of the State’s resources.Dr. Ray Rist, who is a renowned world authority on developing Monitoring and Evaluation systems, and co-founder of the International Programme for Development Evaluation Training (IPDET) is the facilitator of the five-day workshop being held at the Guyana International Conference Centre (GICC), Liliendaal.

Minister of Finance, Dr. Ashni Singh, at the workshop’s opening ceremony on Monday, called on the participants to see their involvement as a broader initiative to implement a stronger and more comprehensive government

monitoring and evaluation system.

“I want to say to you that as the latest cohort of M&E trainees you are part of a broader initiative to implement across government a robust monitoring and evaluation system. It is in that context that I want you to view your participation in this workshop,” Dr Singh said.

The minister noted that while emphasis is being placed on building capacity, the government is also looking at other aspects of strengthening the Monitoring and Evaluation system.

Already the government has taken several steps by way of making constitutional amendments and enacting legislation, all aimed at improving the architecture for monitoring public money.

“Some of you may be familiar with some of this, but I must say we now have architecture on the law books of Guyana that places emphasis on more effective management of public resources.”
Guyana also has constitutional oversight committees including parliamentary committees on economic and social services, and legislation that speak of performance of each government programme being measured, targets being set and budgetary allocations being sought and approved with reference to these measured outcomes.
“Some of you may know, today a programme that goes to the Parliament for approval of financial resources is accompanied by something called the programme performance statement that includes key strategic objectives of that programme, key performance indicators and target against each of those indicators.”
In addition, Monitoring and Evaluation units have been successfully established in some of the government’s key spending agencies, including the Ministries of Health, Education and Public Works, all to ensure state funds are used in the most effective manner.
Meanwhile, Dr. Rist called on participants to make the best of what will be presented to them during the five-day training.
“The agenda here is to make the public sector stronger, smarter, quicker, and more information rich, will use this week to try to give you new skills, tools, and perspective, and to make your own performance better than what it was.”
This is the eleventh such workshop hosted by the Ministry of Finance in collaboration with the International Programme for Development Evaluation Training (IPDET), and targets representatives from various Government agencies.
IPDET is an executive training programme that aims to provide managers and practitioners with the generic tools required to evaluate development policies, programmes, and projects at the local, national, regional, and global levels.
The programme features in-depth workshops taught by renowned international faculty members drawn from southern and northern organisations.

(GINA)