Monitoring & Evaluation (M&E) Unit Ministry of the Prime Minister Republic of Vanuatu

1. Monitoring & Evaluation (M&E) Unit Ministry of the Prime Minister Republic of Vanuatu Monitoring and Evaluation of Implementing National ICT Policies, University of Hawaii, Hawaii Tuesday 20th July 2011

2. Why the M&E unit The M&E Unit was established in 2008, and operational from 2010, to better serve the Government of Vanuatu along two lines of objectives: • To better MONITOR the implementation of: Government policies and priorities; Council of Ministers decisions; Major projects (over 50 million Vatu). • To better EVALUATE: the impact (effectiveness) of the Government policies (when they are implemented); the efficiency of the public service in implementing these policies, and generally in delivering services to the people of Vanuatu. Following careful analysis of the reports from the M&E Unit, the Government should be able to: • Design better policies; • Improve the implementation mechanisms.

3. What is the M&E unit doing The primary activity of the M&E Unit is to GATHER INFORMATION from all Government agencies that relate to what they are doing and what is the impact of what they are doing. Thus produce an ANNUAL DEVELOPMENT REPORT and the SIX MONTHLY REPORT. • The primary documents for such gathering are the ANNUAL REPORTS that all ministries are to table at the PSC and at the Parliament. • Most Annual Reports fail to reflect (let alone measure) the efficiency and the impact of their activities; • For the information gathered to reflect the effectiveness (impact) of the public service, agencies (or, in certain cases, the Vanuatu National Statistics Office) need to collect the data that better describes to what extent they reach their objectives; • For the information gathered to reflect the efficiency of the public service, agencies need to collect the data that describes what their activities are, and what services they deliver. The M&E Unit assists line ministries to do that.

4. Specific objectives Expected results Activities to be implemented Means of implementation Costs / Budget The LOGFRAME approachin the project cycle • The LogFrame approach is used at all stages of the project cycle • It is used to establish links between Problems to be solved Specific objectives Expected results Activities to be implemented Means of implementation

5. GOAL OUTCOMES OUTPUT ACTIVITIES Means of implementation Logical Frame and Evaluation IMPACT Effectiveness Efficiency

6. Prioritized & Action Agenda (PAA) PAA VISION Private Sector Development & Employment Creation Macroeconomic Stability & Equitable Growth Good Governance & Public Sector Reform Primary Sector & Environment Basic Services & Social Development Education & HRD Infrastructure & Utilities MT MFEM PMO MAQFF MOH MOE MIPU MNVBD MIA MLGM MYDT MJSWA MFA

7. Vanuatu framework for policy making and M&E: LEVELS OF INDICATORS CoM / PM / Parliament EFFICIENCY EFFECTIVENESS IMPACT National performance indicators PSC EFFICIENCY Sector performance indicators Line Ministries EFFICIENCY & EFFECTIVENESS Sector performance indicators Sector performance indicators Performance indicators Performance indicators Departments EFFICIENCY Performance indicators Performance indicators Performance indicators Performance indicators

8. What are the main problems In many cases, the objectives of the departments / agencies are not stated in an operational way. So they cannot really evaluate to what extent they reach their objectives. In many cases, the work plans are not implemented as planned, then agencies tend to blame the lack of funds, without further investigating the other issues (lack of work, lack of skills, poor design of policies, etc.). So the M&E Unit has to assist the line ministries (and all Government agencies) to: • Improve their Corporate Plans / Business Plans; • Define operational objectives (what are the expected outputs of your agency? What changes are the people of Vanuatu going to experience following your activity?) ; • Define their INDICATORS of performance (how will you show PSC / COM / Parliament that you deliver the expected services? What changes in their life do the people of Vanuatu experience as a result?); • Design the best ways to collect data that give values to the INDICATORS, at least once a year, in their Annual Reports.

9. How does M&E unit build capacity at the line ministries The M&E Unit works closely with sector analysts in the planning unit to improve the existing framework of planning / reporting in the Government. Most of the M&E Focal Point Officers in the line ministries are the Executive Officers of the Corporate Services, and they are the officers responsible for drafting the Corporate Plans and the Annual Reports. The M&E Unit organises “planning workshops” in each line ministry, to review together the structure of their planning documents, and the indicators associated with them. In the process, we improve the capacity of the EOs, the Directors, the sector analysts, and our own team. From October 2010 to June 2011, the M&E Unit has conducted 2 planning inter-ministerial workshops (of which, one with the PSC), and 24 planning meetings for line ministries. The process is longer than expected. Significant progress, in terms of improved planning structure and documents, has been achieved to date with MOE, MAQFF and MPM.

10. What are the next steps This year and later, the M&E Unit will continue to improve the quality of the planning / reporting documents of all Government Agencies. It will contribute not only to improve the data collection system (database) but also it will give managers the tools to improve the efficiency and impact of the Government program activities.

11. Mahalo Thank you Merci TANKYU TUMAS