BUCHAREST, January 29, 2014 – The World Bank Country Office in Romania hosted a debate on January 27th with Romanian policy-makers from key ministries and agencies on the benefits of and good practice in monitoring and evaluation (M&E) of public policies.
The event was co-organized with the Chancellery of the Prime Minister in the context of launching activities under the World Bank Institutional Development Fund Grant for the Monitoring and Evaluation of Policy-Making aimed at helping ministries measure results on their policy priorities.
In particular, the project will develop a framework to monitor and evaluate the progress with the implementation of strategies and policies in two ministries ‒ the Ministry of Labor, Family Social Protection and Elderly and the Ministry of Regional Development and Public Administration. The framework will be supported by an information technology infrastructure.
The debate emphasized that the demand from senior decision-makers and the general public for results on how the public money is spent is central to the successful implementation of an M&E system.
The discussion benefited from practical country experiences presented by experts from the United Kingdom, Slovakia, Canada, and Hungary.
The debate concluded that, irrespective of the model Romania will choose for its monitoring and evaluation system for public policies, a number of prerequisites should be met:
(i) clarity of purpose – reporting should be done to inform the policy decisions;
(ii) existence of stronger demand and leadership from policy-makers for results from programs and policies; and
(iii) the integration of program results with budget allocations.
“Strengthening monitoring and evaluations of public policies in the ministries is a high priority for the Chancellery of the Prime Minister,” said State Secretary Radu Puchiu.
World Bank Country Manager for Romania, Elisabetta Capannelli, acknowledged that creating a more transparent culture of reporting on the results in the ministries will not be an easy task. “It requires a cultural change,” said Capannelli, commending the participating policy-makers for their readiness to take the lead in mainstreaming the M&E agenda in their institutions. These include the ministries and agencies responsible for the areas of employment and social protection, public finance and tax administration, public procurement, education, information society, and regional development.
