THE Ministry of National Planning and Development Coordination and partners held a one-day validation workshop on the Monitoring and Evaluation Systems Analysis diagnostic study report and Capacity Development Plan.
The validation workshop was held at the Honiara Hotel Friday last week, March 31, 2023, following the Monitoring and Evaluation Systems Analysis (MESA) exercise which the Ministry conducted with stakeholders and partners across the country last year and earlier on this year.
Ministry of National Planning and Development Coordination (MNPDC) Director of Programme Quality Division, Alice Kale presented key findings of the MESA diagnostic study.
The MESA study aims to understand the Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) enabling environment, systems and practices, organizational and individual capacities. It also aims to identify gaps and opportunities – what is working well, what is not working well, and the priority areas for improvement and adopting evidence-based policy making.
MEL partners from government ministries, Non-government Organizations, Civil Society Organisations, the private sector and development partners converge during the workshop to validate the MESA findings.
Speaking during the workshop, MNPDC Permanent Secretary, Susan Sulu said having a robust MEL system would support the generation of clear evidence to support planning and budgeting and to inform policy and decision making, hence strengthening MEL systems is a key priority of the Ministry.
“The MESA journey is a journey to improving MEL in Solomon Islands. A strengthened MEL system would also support learning.
“It is a journey that stems from the vision of the National Development Strategy [NDS 2016 – 2035] to improving the social and economic livelihood of all Solomon Islanders, and the mission to create peaceful, harmonious and progressive Solomon Islands – led by ethical, accountable, respected and credible leadership that enhances and protects peoples’ culture, social and economic wellbeing,” PS Sulu said.
Ms Sulu pointed out that there are deficiencies in MEL in the country.
“But that is the beauty of learning – we come back and look at the gaps, and we think and learn together, share wisdom and how we enhance the journey moving forward.”
She said another aspect of this MESA journey is that of social inclusion and gender equity, and resilience.
“We must ensure that all people despite of their gender and uniqueness, is taken care of. That is a key consideration that is taken onboard,” the permanent secretary said.
Ms Sulu said the MESA journey is about taking inclusive and participatory approach to helping us understand the ecosystem around M&E in Solomon Islands.
Solomon Islands is the first country in the Pacific Region to conduct MESA – a pilot study that aims to understand the M&E enabling environment, systems and practices, and organizational and individual capacities.
The Permanent Secretary has also encouraged all partners that they all have a role to play.
“All partners, we all have a role to play. This is not the end, this a start of the journey in helping us understand the ecosystem of the MEL in Solomon Islands. The next step to take this forward is the development of the capacity development plan, which will be the vehicle to sit to strengthen and address all the issues in MEL capacity in Solomon Islands.
“Recommendations from this workshop will also be used to develop a capacity development plan for MEL in Solomon Islands, and that is when collaboration from everyone comes into play,” Ms Sulu said.
The World Bank (WB) and the Global Evaluation Initiative (GEI) are providing Technical Support through Alinea International- an Australia based consulting firm and Dignity Pasifik – a Honiara based consulting firm.
The outcome of the MESA final report is expected to be launched very soon.
