National Planning Commission, in close collaboration with the UNICEF Evaluation Office, has began the process of establishing an Association for Evaluators in Nigeria (EAN), with a view to promoting good governance through transparency, accountability and improved service delivery.
It was to this end, a one-day Stakeholders meeting was organised for stakeholders by the Commission’s Monitoring and Evaluation Department, to brainstorm and work out processes and modalities that will make the idea a reality
The stakeholders meetings were scheduled for Lagos, Kaduna and Enugu, for M&E stakeholders across the Country to gather inputs on the best way to come up with the Association and design its structure
In a well come address at the opening of the Kaduna meeting, friday, october 11th, 2013, the Secretary to the National Planning Commission, Barrister Ntufam Fidel Ugbo, described Monitoring & Evaluation (M&E), as a very important aspect to the government especially as it supports;
* improved transparency & accountability in governance,
* improved performance and impact of policies, programmes & projects on beneficiaries, and also
* improve participation between the government and the citizens
Barrister Ntufam stated also that, NPC in collaboration with UNICEF, has recognised the need for an umbrella Evaluation Body under which existing networks can be brought together as one accepted, recognised entity to relate to Nigerian government and International bodies
“The proposed Evaluation Association in Nigeria (EAN), will be a professional body of all Evaluators, and a think-tank to guide the direction of capacity building in Evaluation and also be a knowledge sharing institution for Nigerian Evaluators” He stated.
He further disclosed that, in Nigeria, M&E was established as part of Vision20:2020, with a new M&E Department in NPC in 2010 to support the operationalisation of the system.
The Secretary also pointed out that, “a number of countries across the world where M&E is practised, the practitioners come together to form a body which will strengthen the skills and capacities of the Evaluators in a mutually collaborative manner among all the different Evaluation practising bodies” he further disclosed
Salisu B. Haiba
Head of Information
