Author: Dominique

As part of several ongoing reforms across Government, the Directorate received new staff during the FY2022/23. In addition, the Directorate is making a self-assessment of its performance in FY 2021/22. In line with the OPM Human Resource Management Policy and the Public Service Standing Orders, the Directorate in collaboration with Twende Mbele program, which aims at promoting the use of monitoring and evaluation (M&E) to strengthen government performance and accountability undertook a comprehensive three day training from 27-29 March 2023.

The overall objective of the exercise was to build the capacity of the Directorate staff for competitive service delivery. The specific objectives will include the following;

a) To orient the newly deployed Directorate staff on the core mandate, functions, processes and deliverables of the OPM Directorate for M&E and Inspection vis-à-vis government plans, policies, programs and projects.

b) Orientating participants about the Government-wide M&E system of Uganda and roles and responsibilities of the various MDAs in the system.

c) Provide training on the basics of performance monitoring and evaluation d) To train the Directorate staff on the new and emerging M&E tools and skill-sets

e) Train Directorate staff on the value of M&E evidence in public policymaking, planning, implementation

f) Train OPM Directorate on M&E and Inspection on the utility of evaluations and evaluative evidence-use in government (particularly the value of evaluations in aiding the performance management mandate of the OPM M&E Directorate vis-à-vis government medium term plans, public policies, programs and projects.

g) To develop a strategic roadmap for strengthening and improving performance of the Directorate and the role of M&E across Government in general. This roadmap will be informed by the results of the M&E skills audit/assessment that will be done by the trainer two weeks before the training. The strategic roadmap for improving the M&E system will best be informed by a substantive process of reviewing/assessing the extent to which the M&E policy is implemented across government. This M&E training for the Directorate staff is skills focused whereas a roadmap would need to take stock of M&E skills across all or a representative sample of MDAs; review of M&E frameworks across MDAs; review M&E practices of MDAs etc.

Held at the International Convention Centre (ICC) Hotel, East London, Eastern Cape on the 15-16 March 2023. The theme of the seminar was, “An Effective and Efficient Evaluation System: What Gets Measured Gets Done”.

The outcome of the seminar was:
1) To develop a common language for engaging in program evaluations.

2) To provide a platform for the enhancement of evaluation-related technical knowledge, skills, and capabilities.

3) To share with participants emerging evaluation profession trends, locally and internationally to foster a spirit of learning, discovery, and innovation.

4) To create a networking platform, to share and learn from the professional experiences and best practices, in order to best optimise evaluation institutionalisation.

Held at the AHA Hotel in Umhlanga, Durban 22-23 March. The seminar theme was: “Evaluation Institutionalisation and Capacity Building for Sustainable, Inclusive M&E Systems; Reflection on Research for Evidence-Based Decision Making.”

The objective of the seminar was to:
• Share knowledge and practice on institutionalising of evaluations and keep participants up to date on emerging local and international trends in the profession and to understand the implications of these trends.
• Tap into provincial research and evaluation skills to develop and strengthen evaluation and research capacity for emerging evaluators and researchers.
• Provide a platform for networking and sharing of good practices on evidence-use in policy and programme implementation.
• Reflect on the progress that has been made on implementing the 2022 Provincial Evaluation Seminar Resolutions