System to monitor LEAP launched
A Monitoring and evaluation (M&E) system for the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) programme has been launched to improve its operations.
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It is to ensure the availability of routine and up-to-date monitoring information to allow programme managers to improve upon their performance.
The new M&E system will also ensure the management of expansions that are underway and certify that the intended effects of LEAP are achieved.
Aims of new M&E
An initiative of the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection and the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF), the new system is to help provide evidence-based decision making and encourage learning and accountability.
These were contained in a briefing paper on the new M&E system which had been titled; “learning from within: improving the efficiency and effectiveness of LEAP with a new M&E system”
According to the briefing paper, the new system defined a comprehensive result framework, the source of monitoring and evaluation information, institutional arrangements and processes required for its implementation.
It said that the old M&E system integrated into the initial LEAP programme design before its implementation had not been effectively implemented due to a number of challenges.
Benefits of new system
Launching the new system, the Minister for Gender, Children and Social Protection, Nana Oye Lithur, said that monitoring and evaluation was a very critical component for effective and efficient implementation of any development intervention and was valuable for improving the quality of public policy.
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“An effective evaluation system is critical for the successful and sustainable implementation of any intervention,” she added.
She explained that for this reason, it was important to make M&E an integral part of Ghana’s social protection interventions to ensure that these programmes met their objectives while state resources were utilised judiciously.
Nana Oye Lithur said because Ghana was implementing a number of social intervention programmes like the School Feeding Programme and the national health insurance scheme, the development of this new M&E framework would address discrepancies in their implementations.
“The development of this M&E will motivate managers of social protection programmes to develop their own M&E systems. This will ensure that extremely poor, vulnerable, and the excluded that are targeted by these programmes are adequately protected and provided with social safety nets to enhance their livelihood,” she added.
Development Partners
She expressed the government’s gratitude to its development partners; the UNICEF, DFID and the World Bank for their immense support and keen interest in building an effective and efficient social protection system in Ghana; and to USAID for providing funding to support the initiative. She also extended appreciation to Oxford Policy Management (OPM) for providing technical expertise in developing the new M&E system.