M&E Capacity Development in the AfCoP-MfDR and the Case in Ethiopia

1. M&E Capacity Developmentin the AfCoP-MfDR and the Case in Ethiopia Tamirat Yacob (tamiratyc@gmail.com) AfCoP M&E CMT and Ministry of Finance and Economic Development, Ethiopia

2. Outline • MfDR and CoPs • AfCoP • Management and support of the AfCoP • How the CoP functions • Achievements as an AfCoP (results/impacts in the AfCoP) • M&E and Capacity Development in the AfCoP • AfCoP and CAP Scan • “lessons” on evaluation capacity development in Ethiopia • Conclusion

3. Managing for Development Results • Managing for Development Results (MfDR) means focusing on development performance and on sustainable improvements in country outcomes • MfDR principles: focus the dialogue on results; align programming, M&E with results; keep measurement and reporting simple; Manage for ,not by, results; Use results information for learning and decision making

4. Community of Practice • Community of Practice (CoP) is defined as an informal network group of people who share common sense of purpose and desire to exchange knowledge and experiences in an area of shared interest

5. African Community of Practice on MfDR • Two regional workshops organized by OECD/DAC and the Governments of Uganda and Burkina Faso in June 2006 gave a call for the creation of mutual learning opportunities. • The African Community of Practice on Managing for Development Results (AfCoP-MfDR) launched in Feb. 2007 at the third International Round Table in Hanoi, Vietnam. • Vision of the AfCoP: to facilitate good MfDR practices through information exchange and to provide capacity development opportunities for results management among countries on the African continent • Mission of the AfCoP: provide a platform for the exchange of experience and knowledge among practitioners who seek to develop and expand their capacity in MfDR

7. AfCoP Members • Member: 500+(580, June 2009) • African Countries:35 • Other countries: 29 • Agencies/Donors: 14 • Women: 146 • Men:429 • Languages: 2

8. Monitoring and Evaluation in the AfCoP • Capacity Building and Knowledge Management Team • Develop MfDR capacity of CoP members with the goal of enhancing country institutional capacities • Monitoring and Evaluation Team • Monitor and Evaluate policies and activities of the AfCoP based on the annual work plan

9. M&E Capacity Development in the AfCoP • M&E related discussions in the AfCoP (English/French) • Integrated M&E and MIS under the IRBM in 2008 • In 2009 discussion topics would include: • Evaluation of the impact of development policies/strategies; • Results-based evaluation; • New implications for monitoring and evaluation of programs and development projects under an MfDR approach; • Monitoring & Evaluation using KPIs – what are the pitfalls?

10. Gaps in M&E Capacity Development • The AfCoP is not providing M&E capacity building trainings as much as needed as resources are not abundant (hands on M&E tools and methodologies trainings/workshops/forums are highly needed) • M&E knowledge and experience is so diverse among us • We are more focused on discussions and less hands on experience in M&E system designs to our members, etc • Joint evaluation works experience shortage • Available M&E experts who can moderate and train people are not many • Resources are not abundant in the AfCoP

11. We seek for new partnership for M&E CD in the AfCoP • M&E, Statistics, Planning and budgeting, implementation capacities are “weak” in Africa • AfCoP’s Capacity is the “mirror image” of capacity in the continent • How and What type of working partnerships? • Increase the partnership of CoPs and related Networks (South-South and North-south) • Learning by doing (participate in different assessment exercises and future works: e.g. joint evaluation exercises) • Trainings, workshops and forums to share experiences using existing platforms • Experts in networks like this one and donor evaluation managers are welcomed to join and can train members, share their experience,

12. M&E Capacity Development in Ethiopia • In Ethiopia development partners act like as a consortium called Development Assistance Group(DAG) • 8 million USD has been put in place from the DAG for M&E capacity development in the country for the PASDEP period (2005/06 – 2009/10) • Welfare Monitoring System Program (M&E system) since 1996 • Three main actors in the M&E system: • Ministry of Finance and Economic Development • Federal Executive bodies (line ministries); and, • Central Statistical Agency (CSA)

13. M&E Capacity Dev’t in Ethiopia • Sectoral M&E systems: education, road, health, water and sanitation in that order are relatively more systematized and well linked to the grass root level than the monitoring system for other sectors. • Agriculture’s is weak and a lot is undergoing to improve it • Agriculture Statistics working team • Water and Sanitation M&E system building • The National Strategy for the Development of Statistics (NSDS) is to push the statistical capacity development agenda forward in Ethiopia

14. M&E Capacity Development in Ethiopia (continued) • Capacity Development in the CSA • Branch Networking for data collection and transfer to HQ • Satellite mapping for agricultural surveys • Data scanning mechanism/e.g. The 2007 National Population and Housing Census/ • National Strategy for the Development of Statistics (NSDS) • - Quality assurance, the speed of analysis, along with the speed and network of dissemination

15. Lessons learned in the M&E systems of Ethiopia • More emphasis to build the capacity of the sectoral M&E systems of Agriculture and Water and Sanitation in Ethiopia • Use of country systems by bilateral and multilateral donors is now increasing • Emerging good practice: The Aid Management Platform(AMP) system for better Aid management (The 2008 Third Source Book on good practice on MfDR, OECD and the WB) • Existing Data source use has increased in preparation of Country Assistance Frameworks and country missions • Country systems are now becoming strong and strong as lot of initiatives and capacity development has been going in the area in collaboration with development partners

16. Conclusions • The AfCoP plays a role in facilitating and exchanging M&E CD initiatives for its member countries so it is advantages to make partnership and work together • Financial, in kind and expert assistance are needed • Countries should emphasise capacity develop of their “weak” M&E systems in collaboration/jointly with donors • Enhanced and coordinated effort is needed, (e.g. for better aid management) using country systems and manage for development results

17. Thank you! Please visit the AfCoP site and be a member, contribute and share your stories www.cop-mfdr-africa.org