FINANCE Minister Winston Jordan on Wednesday implored a group of approximately 90 public servants to ensure that monitoring and evaluation are implemented in their duties. The Minister was at the time addressing the participants of a mini-International Programme for Development Evaluation Training (IPDET) workshop at the Arthur Chung Convention Centre at Liliendaal, ECD.The Finance Minister said the APNU+AFC administration is committed to strengthening accountability and transparency. He said it was a promise made to the people of Guyana, and one that will be fulfilled. According to Minister Jordan, each public servant must understand the importance of monitoring and evaluation in relation to accountability and transparency to taxpayers.

“Changing what is known as the public service culture will take some time. Therefore, I’d expect in the pilot agencies, health and education as well as all other agencies…that sector-wide adaptation of the tools you’ve acquired and learned here,” he said.

He said he would be stressing the importance of monitoring and evaluation with his cabinet colleagues, while stressing that “people must enjoy well delivered services for the taxes that they pay.”

“It is up to you, the public servants, to ensure that we serve them creditably and effectively. Of course there will be missteps along the way, but it should never be in doubt that we, as a government, intend to uphold the highest tenets of good governance and open governance,” the Finance Minister noted.

Government, from the time it has taken office in May 2015, has said that much emphasis will be placed on building a robust public service that places a premium on transparency and reporting that will ensure greater accountability and ultimately good governance.

“While M&E is a relatively new management tool to Guyana, it has been recognised across the globe in both developed and developing countries as one of the most essential elements in ensuring public service and public financial management,” said Jordan.

Though (we are) a country with limited financial resources, the Finance Minister said, it is imperative that value for money is realised. This, he said, can only be ascertained through targeted and effective programming.

“Even if we had all of the money in the world, still, value for money should not be a concept that should be lost. It is not so much how much we spend, but how much we get out of what we spend,” he explained.

He added that his administration would ensure that monitoring and evaluation are institutionalised across central government.

Thus far, some 900 public servants have been trained in monitoring and evaluation, and the Finance Minister believes that a “special session” should be arranged and dedicated to showcasing the changes that are being made in the institutions that they represent.

Jordan believes that monitoring and evaluation need to be viewed within the wider context of results-based management, and noted that M&E will guide the outputs and outcomes of budget agencies.

Meanwhile, Ray Rist, facilitator of the workshop, noted that the workshop is geared to help public servants understand how to do good monitoring and good evaluation. “We have been talking about how to build a good monitoring system, how to start designing the evaluation system,” he said.
Additionally, Dr Rist said the workshop is aimed at obtaining good measurements, good data, and being able to produce a good analysis.
“We are now working on how to build the theory of change…so any programme we start, we know of the potentiality,” the facilitator added.

He was joined by Dr Linda Mora Imas.

The workshop, which is being held in collaboration with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), began on April 11 and will conclude on Friday. It represents the 18th one-week workshop hosted by the Ministry of Finance.