KADUNA, October 28, 2010 -- The World Bank and the Federal Ministry of Finance (FMOF) jointly organized a workshop titled “The Result Agenda Demystified” for World Bank-financed project participants on results-based monitoring and evaluation of World Bank programs.
Governments are increasingly under pressure from stakeholders and their populations to show that they are using resources to produce results. Most monitoring specialists are familiar with the traditional way of monitoring program inputs and outputs but the workshop highlighted a new approach of looking at results focusing on the effects of the program on the beneficiaries.
Mohammed Khatouri, the World Bank’s Lead Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist in Washington who led the workshop, stressed that monitoring and evaluation (M&E) helps development projects to be more efficient and effective and pointed out the correlation between good monitoring and achieving the project’s objectives.
“M&E is a management tool to deliver results as well as help managers to do their work, gain acceptance and popularity,” said Khatouri. “It also ensures productivity, transparency and accountability as well as serves as checks and balances to reduce cost.”
Results now crucial for projects
Unlike in the past, showing evidence of results is now very crucial for projects, said Ministry of Finance Permanent Secretary Danladi Kifas.
“The Tune of the drum has changed and as such the mode of dancing must also change to rhyme with the beats of the drum,” Kifasi told the participants.
He also stressed the importance of building capacity and skills of public servants to monitor and evaluate projects.
Poonam Gupta, Country Programme Coordinator said M&E should involve the communities and beneficiaries targeted by the project. She also stressed the importance of independent verification and evaluation of results by civil society organizations, faith based organizations and others.
“M&E is not about the World Bank, it is everybody’s business. World Bank is merely to support you to achieve your objectives and your results,” Poonam told participants.
Highlights of the workshop
Through simulated exercises and practical case studies, workshop participants improved their understanding of a results-based management approach and tested their abilities to develop good results frameworks and M&E systems for projects, programs and national development plans.
Modules treated at the workshop included: Result-Based management: General Concepts; Result-Based Management in the Nigerian Context; Result Framework; M&E Plan and Data Collection Methods; Evaluation Methods; Clinic on Project Results and M&E in the Nigeria Portfolio.
In total, 65 participants from 16 World Bank-financed projects, the World Bank Nigeria office and the Federal Ministry of Finance (FMOF) attended the three-day workshop.
At the end, participants rated the workshop very highly. Most said it shifted their mind-sets and increased their knowledge and skills for results-based Monitoring and Evaluation. They also stressed the need for key project staff, including Task Team Leaders (TTLs), to attend such workshops to ensure a common and informed understanding of the result-based approach.
Peter Ajibaye, M&E Specialist with the National Fadama Project Coordinating Office noted that “the training, combined with the clinic, helped us, as a team, to understand better the results management approach. We are all much demystified.”
Agreements and next steps
At the end of the workshop, the World Bank and participants agreed to continue to support the project teams to apply their new skills in results-based M&E to improve the quality of their periodic progress reports. With the support of the FMOF, the improved monitoring will be included in the next portfolio review and will serve as a foundation for a results-based Country Portfolio Performance Review (CPPR). This will also ensure alignment of the project results with Country Partnership Strategy (CPS) outcomes and the country’s high level objectives.
It was also agreed that another workshop be conducted for project staff who could not participate in Kaduna.
